MM Story Bits
by Teddi 8347
Summary: Basically my version of Ash getting a different starter. This is a small part or a preview of the story. I hope you enjoy. Rated T for mentions of ...injuries or pain or something dark... Does self doubt count as Angst? Update; it's going to be a series of story bits. Renamed from MM Ash's Inner Conflict
1. Ash's Inner Conflict

**AN: I don't own Pokemon.**

 **I know, this isn't the next chapter to Sacred Illusions. I just... I'm having trouble writing it. My grandmother died recently and I haven't been feeling the inspiration for it.**

 **I think it'll help if those who read it tells me why they like the story. It wasn't original, there has been a few before it and I thought I could do better. And, to be honest, I'm not sure I can continue it. Unless some of you can convince my muse that it's worth reading, I won't be able to write it without out it turning into dung.**

 **In the mean time, here's a story, or a part of it, that I had been dying to write. I put it on hold because Sacred Illusions was so popular... and I'm having a little trouble writing the first chapter.**

 **This part would be in the Vermilion City "arc". Each "arc" is three chapters long** **[it's basically a chapter cut into three parts]** **and is based on locations, like Pallet Town, and important events, like gym battles.**

 **While there are stories with Ash having a different starter, I haven't seen one with this one before.**

 **That's all for now. I hope you enjoy reading this.**

* * *

The Vermillion City Pokémon Gym seems a lot more intimidating up close. The exterior has lightning designs crisscrossing all around the building, giving it a wired fence look. The roof looks to be made out of storm clouds in a shape of tall towers. In short; the gym looks like a cross between an electrical storm and a heavily guarded military camp.

Looking at the building wasn't helping calm Ash's nerves.

There are already people coming to fill the seats and watch the next challenger. Most people were putting on bets on how bad the challenger is going to be beaten this time. Ash tugs on his jacket in an attempt to calm down.

A part of him is trying to convince him that this is dangerous and he should run away now. And he agrees… except for a different part trying to convince him to stay.

His heart pumps hard at the mere thought of being anywhere with electricity. The fear he has keeps him rooted to the ground. His whole body is shaking in silent panic as his mind process just what he has agreed to.

He's going into a gym that specializes in electric type, the main contender; a highly trained Raichu. But the raichu isn't the only Pokémon he needs to worry about. According to the trainers, the ones conscious that is, all of the Pokémon the faced are highly trained electric types.

Now looking at the gym and thinking back to the other two he's seen, Ash can't help but wonder if the gym itself is a death-trap. To him, it might as well be.

Ash feels his legs getting ready to flee. To run back to the Pokémon Center and hide, like the coward he is. But then he catches sight of one of the trainers and memories flashed in his mind for just a moment. The feeling of hopelessness came rushing back and Ash remembers wishing for someone to stand up for him.

He remembers very faintly of a tall, intimidating man and a raichu checking in on him… but he can't remember the man or how badly he freaked out with the raichu. In fact, he assumed it was a dream because when he asked, no one believed him.

His mind went back to the people and Pokémon at the Pokémon Center. They are in no worse condition than when he was attacked and even though the medicine is better now than a few years ago, there will always be complications. And maybe, Ash wanted those people and Pokémon to keep fighting, to have hope, when it is so easy to give up… just like he did.

Taking a deep breath, Ash looks at the building again. The fear is still there, the desire to run still burns in his legs and mind, but he refuses to let them take hold.

He takes another deep breath and reminds himself why he agreed to do this. For the young trainers who have been broken physically, mentally and emotionally by this gym. For the Pokémon whose life is on the line because this gym didn't stop until too late. For Nurse Joy who can't do anything because they bully her into silence.

More importantly, he's doing this to show these bullies that not everyone is going to sit by and watch as they continue to ruin lives. To show they can't always hide behind the rules to get what they want. And maybe, show them to never judge someone by their looks.

Ash can feel his starter, his partner, looking at him. He can tell she's wondering what is going through his mind. And, for some odd reason, he knows she's fighting down her past and fears, just like what he's doing now.

Taking his third deep breath, Ash looks at the three Pokémon who came with him. His starter has the same conflict look as he does; fear and fleeing determination. The smallest is both terrified and curious as she doesn't really understand what is going on. The largest, the one who is usually laid back and easy-going, has this firmness in his eyes, one Ash himself doesn't really know what it is. Anger? Determination? Disappointment?

Whatever it is, Ash is glad it wasn't directed at him. Because when the big brother of the group looks up at him, Ash feels all of his fear let go as his mind registers the protectiveness in his eyes. The fear is still there, and is still strong, but Ash feels he doesn't have to do this alone. For the first time in his life, Ash Ketchum fully feels he isn't alone.

"You three ready?" he asks them. The three of them nods, one with uncertainty, one with a nervous swallow and one with firmness. Ash takes a fourth deep breath, adjusted his clothes and says, "Dexter, begin recording."

* * *

 **AN: Good? Bad? Should I write this story?**

 **I can't give too much info without spoiling the story, and I do want to keep some surprises for the story.**

 **Tell me what you think of this and Sacred Illusions. I can only work on one and I need to know which one. Thank you for your support. Please be safe and enjoy you day and life.**


	2. A Tailor Fitting

**Disclaimer; I don't own Pokemon.**

 **AN: Sorry for not being here for months. Two major events has happened; My grandmother passed away and I got a job. It's hard to find time to write, other than for my original stories. I can't promise you when the next chapter of Sacred Illusions since I don't know, but I hope this would be an alright replacement.**

 **I'm going to rename the story and turn it into a series of snippets [I hope that's the right word] of a story I really wanted to do but can't seem to write. It will be out of order.**

 **I hope you'll enjoy.**

* * *

"Okay," Misty says while looking at a brochure. "It says here that there are different battles styles; single, double, triple and rotation. And depending on the battle depends on how many Pokémon can be used. Do you understand this so far?"

Ash nods as he warily looks at the Pokémon in front of him. Amber Silk has gotten some clothes for herself and is expecting him to pick one. Silk Ryder and Skye Grace are of no help, though that could be because they are trying to keep Lil Ribbon from causing trouble. Speaking of, she just got her small paws on an expensive looking ribbon.

"I can sign us up as a duo or, since you are technically disabled, I can be your aide, or whatever it's called," Misty says before looking up from the brochure. She laughs at the amount of clothes his starter has. "You're a girl after my own heart. But I'm afraid we don't have the money for even one of these at the moment.

"Besides, we still have to see if we could rent a couple of costumes," she adds more to Ash than the Pokémon. "According to this brochure it's a special tradition and is a requirement for everyone who's participating in the festival. I'm going to ask someone about it."

Ash nods in understanding as Misty left to ask, but his heart ached to see his starter so sad. However, Amber Silk seemingly understands and started putting the clothes away. Ash knew he had to get something for her one of these days.

"Good news," Misty says as she came next to him. "There's a costume rental in the castle. If you think you can handle it, we can head over there now and pick something before registering. Or should we register first?"

Ash shrugs as he doesn't know and he didn't want to stutter. Misty nods in understanding before thinking hard.

"I think we should register first," she says after a minute. "That way we don't have to worry about rules, if there are any, on renting a costume. Or we could ask while registering. It'll probably be easier."

A crash brought their attention to a mess of merchandise. Both Misty and Ash hurried out so they won't get in trouble for it. Of course, since it seems to have been Lil Ribbon who caused it, it is their responsibility.

* * *

An hour later they find themselves in a massive room filled with clothes. Lil Ribbon is resting in Misty's backpack so they don't have to worry about her causing trouble. That said, the other Pokémon are busy looking around and Ash wonders if he'll get in trouble if the wild Pokémon cause a mess.

"Rai?" a Pokémon's voice asks behind them. Ash immediately stiffens in fear. He could feel the Pokémon watching him but he made no move. Suddenly the Pokémon moves away.

"Ash? Are you alright?" Misty asks in concern. Ash shakes his head as his body didn't want to relax. Amber Silk is suddenly at his side and he fell down in tears.

It doesn't take long before the tears stop. Misty is oddly patient when it comes to this and the Pokémon all seem to understand his need for comfort.

"Okay, Ash?" Misty asks, trying to get his attention. "Can I borrow Dexter? I know you like electric types like I like bug types, no offence Silk Ryder," the bug in question only nods at her comment, "But this Pokémon is unlike anything I have seen and I want to see if Dexter knows what it is."

Ash looks up and around, mainly because his curiosity is peaked at what she said. He sees a Pokémon that kind of looks like a raichu, but more… delicious… Okay, maybe skipping lunch wasn't a good idea. Now he's seeing Pokémon as food and is making him hungrier.

Wordlessly he hands Dexter over to Misty, finding she's kneeling right next to him. She flips it open and point the camera towards the delicious looking raichu.

 **"Raichu; The Mouse Pokémon And The Evolved Form Of Pikachu,"** Dexter beeps as a picture of a raichu appears on screen. **"Raichu Exudes A Weak Electrical Charge From All Its Body And Slightly Glows In The Dark. It's Body Is Capable Of Storing 10,000 to 100,000 Volts Of Electricity. However, It Will Become Aggressive If It Stores Too Much Electricity. It Discharges Electricity Through Its Tail And Into The Ground To Keep It At A Safe Level, Leaving The Ground With Light Scorch Marks. You Can Tell When A Raichu's Sacs Are Fully Charged By Its Stimulated Muscles And Its Ear Are Stand Straight Up."**

"It doesn't look like a raichu," she mutters as she looks between the screen and the Pokémon confused.

 **"That's Because This Isn't A Kanto Raichu,"** Dexter beeps suddenly, causing Misty to scream and jump. **"Unfortunately I Cannot Access Files On Pokémon Not Native To Kanto. Please Ask For An Upgrade At The Soonest Opportunity."**

"Huh, so there are variants of the same Pokémon?" Misty asks intrigued. Ash's curiosity also went up with this information. The Pokémon, however, are busy talking to the strange raichu.

 **"Correct,"** Dexter beeps. **"However, Since I Am Not Able To Give Out Information Outside Of Kanto, I Cannot Tell You Where These Variants Can Be Found Or The Differences In Behavior, If There Are Any. I Can Tell You This Raichu Is An Electric/Psychic Type."**

"Psychic? How is that possible?" Misty asks in shock. Ash gave a shrug as he didn't know. She shakes her head as she shuts the Pokédex and stands up. "Well, I guess it doesn't matter. We still have to find something to wear."

The strange raichu suddenly knocks Misty back down and is on her chest, looking in her eyes with excitement. The other Pokémon cry out in worry before trying to pry the raichu off of her. The raichu chatter excitedly while the Pokémon tries to get it to calm down.

"What's happening?" Misty asks, too in shock to move.

"Talking?" Ash suggests with a shrug. He's not too sure himself, but that's what it looks like.

The raichu cries out with joy before trying to pull Misty off the floor and into one of the changing rooms.

"Wait, what's going on?" she asks, trying to keep it from doing whatever it is trying to do. The raichu uses its psychic powers to bring over a measuring tape and a note pad. The raichu measures Misty's body while asking the Pokémon a few questions.

Silk Ryder starts spitting out its silk, in different colors and texture, on spools. Ash gave Misty a shrug as he has no idea what is going on. He is interested on how Silk Ryder can do that.

Skye Grace and Amber Silk decide to take a flight around the room, leaving the two confused humans even more confused.

"Rai raichu," the raichu calls out to Ash. Ash's whole body tense and he felt like he forgotten to breathe. Suddenly, there's a voice in his head, one he is certain is the raichu, asking; _'Can you handle picking out outfits for your team? Silk Ryder has offered to pay me in his silk and these Pokémon outfits are my own creation.'_

Ash looks over to the rack the raichu has set up and sees a bunch of Pokémon clothes. He went to the battle selection, since they would be fighting, and looked. He found a headpiece with long red and yellow feathers for Skye Grace and is stuck between a cowboy hat and a black mask with two black dreadlocks-like bags attached to it.

The moment he found the outfit for his starter, well two but they're close in design, did she and Skye Grace came back, holding the outfits they picked for him and Misty. He didn't see the one for Misty because the raichu took it away for Misty to try on.

The outfit Amber Silk picked out for him… well; it made him look at the outfits he picked for her. The two of them laugh before trying on their outfits. Oddly enough for him, the outfit fits perfectly even though it seemed too big at first.

"Ash? We need to go," Misty says from the other side of his curtain. "Are you ready?"

Ash opens his curtain at the same time the Pokémon did as well. Misty, wearing a mermaid style dress that looks like the ocean flowing onto a beach*, looks between them and herself. "Well, I can see you four have picked a theme. Now I feel out of place."

* * *

 ***The collar is a sea-green wave the surfers like to ride. The bodice is a deep blue color with bumps that look like waves. It fades into a lighter blue waves closer to shore, but not like the surfing waves. That fades into three layers of the waves washed up on shore with white sea-foam, each on becoming more transparent. The sleeves are like rivers that flows into waterfalls. Other accessories are ocean/water themed with a coral crown on top her head.**

 **AN: Just for fun, can anyone guess what Pokemon are Lil Ribbon, Silk Ryder, Skye Grace and Amber Silk are? And can anyone guess what outfits Ash and the Pokemon are wearing? Or where they are at? And why to all of these? I know I didn't do a lot of information.**

 **I hope you like how I did Dexter. It was kind of hard. So was Misty. I hope I portrayed her as a more caring individual.**

 **Please leave a review if you can. And no Misty Bashing! I happen to like her and if you don't, then just leave.**

 **Until next time.**


	3. A Forest Walk

**Disclaimer; I don't own Pokemon.**

 **AN: I'm sorry for all who are waiting for the next chapter of Sacred Illusions. I have reached a writer's block with it and I am unsure when that block would leave or when I can get around that. Odd thing is I know what I want: I just don't know how to... translate it from thought to words on a page.**

 **I have a special page of this story. It's not this one as I'm still writing it. My B-Day is coming up and I want to have this done by then. I'm sure it'll be special, though confusing since I'm trying to keep things "spoiler free". That means that aside from nicknames, no Pokemon would be called by name unless if stated in a chapter or if a reviewer got it right. This also goes for Human Companions as well.**

 **Please leave a reveiw! Favorites and Follows are great, but then I have no idea what it is you think of my story. Is it good enough you can't wait for an update or are you okay with the possibility of it becoming discontinued? This goes for ALL of my stories, not just this one.**

 **If you have any questions, be sure to ask.** **If you don't have an account I can PM, then I might not answer... sorry.**

 **Please review and let me know what you think. Bad grammar and negative comments, like "I hate this ****! You are a terrible author who shouldn't bla, bla, bla" would be ignored. And please, no fights.**

* * *

Professor Oak gave a sigh as he left his lab that night. Things have changed so much that he wasn't sure if it is for the better.

He was proud of the three trainers, the Kanto Trio, making history way back then, gaining their famous nicknames Red, Blue and Green in the process. But now… it seems as though every trainer has to be somewhat like them that they aren't themselves.

There is an unspoken rule of only specializing in one type, like the gyms and the Kanto Trio, after the first year. Most trainers these days, almost all of them, only specialize in one type instead of having a variety.

To be honest, this is the best of the changes in his eyes.

A lot of new trainers who didn't have training with handling wild Pokémon got so hurt that the league had to ban new trainers catching wild Pokémon. With that causes sales of caught and trained Pokémon to sky-rocket. Professor Oak isn't sure if all of them were/are legal.

Even better [sarcasm], electric types are forbidden unless the trainers in question have a license to handle them. That's because there had been too much electrocution form dumb people who don't think. It isn't rocket science to know the dangers of electricity.

It didn't help when a teacher ignored the warnings and a student, a child of most importance mind you, got severely injured. Their parents and relatives made sure everyone knows the kind of monsters electric types are.

And let's not forget the lack of bond these trainers share with their Pokémon. Most people have seem to forgotten that Pokémon are intelligent beings, not mindless servants. Those that know don't understand that they can't change what their Pokémon like or dislike.

It causes a lot of Pokémon being abandon and/or put down. Even though there are laws in place to keep the Pokémon alive and rehabilitated, it never seems to be enough. Especially for the electric types.

And Professor Oak can't help but think it's his fault. He can't help but think a lot of what's happen is his fault. He can't help it, even though he knows that it isn't, not really.

So now he's walking through town and ignoring the celebration taking place. He can't, for the life of him, understand why people would think these three new trainers are the next Kanto Trio. The only thing they have in common with the original is their genetic make-up; the niece and nephews of the original trio.

Professor Oak let a small laugh escape his lips. The original trio fought with a variety of types in their battle for championship. They only picked their type so they can keep their starter for official battles.

Too bad the two kids he wants as trainers can't become one. Well, one can't while the other refuses to leave him… and he doesn't want to compete with the next gen of Kanto Trio. It's such a shame too; both boys had shown promise.

Well, he'll just have to let them experience a journey, even if it's just for a few towns. There are perks to being his research assistant, or errand boys, after all. And research has proven that traveling and partaking in event together strengthens the bonds between human and Pokémon.

Arceus knows Greyson Ashwood needs a companion who can protect him from Pokémon, especially electric types and rodents. And Graysen Oak needs an attitude adjustment and to learn some responsibility. If they plan to travel together, no matter how short, they need this.

Rustling of leaves brought Professor Oak out of his thoughts and made him realize he walk into the woods surrounding Pallet Town. The sharp, intense pain of the headaches he's been getting for a few years now flared up violently. He didn't notice when creatures came closer, when one of them put their paws on him or when that one tried calling to him.

The pain flared so violently he almost blacked out. A soft wind blow through and his headache calms slightly. A feeling of a soothing warmth flowed through him as words spoken softly in his mind and soul: _It's going to be okay. You're going to be okay._

* * *

 **AN: Okay, this one is more of a information drop than anything. To be honest, I'm not proud how it turned out. Hopefully tomorrow I can post up two more chapters! One because I have it done and the other is a companion piece to Ash's Inner Conflict.**

 **Again, if you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask.**

 **Can anyone guess what MM stands for? Or what Ash's team's theme is in the last chapter? [Misty is wearing the ocean, BTW. That's why she feels out-of-place.]**


	4. Mother's Inner Conflict

_**Disclaimer; I still don't own Pokemon.**_

 **AN: As much as I hate doing this, I will delete this story within the month unless someone says otherwise.**

 **As much as I love this story, no one else seems to and, as I thought about it, I realized why; I haven't established the story, the world, the AU, so no one really gets it and cannot enjoy it.**

 **I wanted to share the story, but I didn't want to spoil anything either. I thought it would be easier to write if I did it the way I did. In a way it was... but in a way it wasn't.**

 **I sure hope you enjoy this last chapter.**

* * *

Being in the Pokémon Center is bringing back some bad memories. It doesn't help that all of the patients are having the same symptoms of the child in said memories. Few are better, some are the same, most are worse.

All shouldn't have happened.

That is what is going through the minds of the two people, examining and investigating this. The two people in question are both experts when dealing with electric type Pokémon. And both, regrettably, have experience with electrocution, whether intentional or not.

Yellow Ashwood, former electric master and wife to famed Champion Red Ashwood, looks at the trainers laying in these beds and can't help but remembering. She knows their families would be worry sick and put blame on the electric Pokémon and/or the gym responsible. They would want all electric types banned and/or put down.

She was like that once, despite her type choice. Despite the fact the Pokémon in question were just afraid and protecting themselves. Despite the fact she grew up with the type and should have known better.

"Yellow," the tough, commanding voice of her partner in this investigation spoke up softly, bringing her back to awareness. "Tell me, what's on your mind."

"Their families would react to this situation the same my husband and I did," she says with a sniffle. She wipes the tears she didn't know were forming in her eyes before adding; "There's too many injured to be just an unfortunate accident; especially since this hasn't happened before your vacation."

"Yes, and here I thought my soldiers would be fit enough to run the gym without me supervising for a couple of months," her partner says harshly. Yellow turns her head to actually look at the soldier, who is currently dressed as a body-builder, instead of listening. She can see the disappointment in his eyes as he looks at all those affected by his decision, however indirectly it is.

"Please don't blame yourself, L.T.," she says firmly, almost as an order. Her partner looks at her, asking with his eyes why she'll say that. "You've entrusted them with this job and they have failed you."

"I trained them, Delia" he says, almost as an argument though he made it sound like a fact.

"You trained them to be respectful with electric type; not to bully others with them!" she says sternly. The anger in her starts to rise and she had to leave the room before she explodes with it.

Once outside, she adjusts her "Delia" outfit to make sure no one would recognize her. The theory both she and him had thought of is if they were to be noticed, then his… gym grunts would hide all evidence before they can do something about it.

Because it could still be a series of accidents. It's highly unlikely, but both agree it isn't worth the risk. Not when there are too many who wants answers, want blame.

She sits on a couch in the lobby. A chancey came up with a hot drink, which she gladly took, and a pamphlet before walking off. As she drinks the warm drink, subconsciously thinking how to make this back home, She notices something interesting.

Three raichu, one which belongs to her companion and the other two belong to both her and her husband, hop on the couch beside her and handed her their notes. She looks them over without saying a thing as her mind is still on the pamphlet. She barely notices when her raichu decides to rest on her lap or when her partner's raichu leaves or when he returned with his master.

She does look up when she heard a couple of familiar voices. Over by the front counter is a group of people with a few she recognize; "Gary? Serena? Yvonne?"

"Oh, Mrs. **Ketchum** ," Gary says, stressing on Ketchum, like he's trying to say something. It seems familiar yet she can't place why. "We didn't expect you here."

"Neither did I," she says calmly. She looks around, trying to spot someone.

"We're here to surprise Ash," Serena says excitedly causing the woman to look at her. Serena then gestures to a blue-hair girl and woman she doesn't recognize. "This is my pen-pal, Dawn and her mother Johanna. I invited them to watch a gym battle with us!"

"Guys, we have a problem," the red-head girl, Misty if she remembers correctly, says with worry as she sped walk to them, causing everyone to look at her. "Ash isn't here."

"What!" Gary yells in shock. Everyone else seems to feel the same, if their faces are anything to go by. "What do you mean? He knows not to leave!"

"Don't you think I don't know that?" Misty says, trying not to lose her temper. "And you know how creative he can be! He Didn't Leave Alone, As He Promised!"

"Everyone, Time-Out!" Yellow, aka Delia, says firmly, getting in-between the two. She turns to the girl. "Misty, is it?"

"You must be Ash's mom!" the girl says with excitement. "I'm Misty Waterflower; one of Ash's guardians on his errand journey. Ash talks about you a lot, when he could."

"It's a pleasure to meet you," she says politely. "But please explain to me what's going on with my son."

The girl's aqua blue-green eyes fell onto the pamphlet she holds. Yellow looks at the girl confused. Before she can question, a young man came up.

"Guys, we have to go," the man, Brock if she remembers correctly, says in a near panic. "The gym battle is going to starts soon…"

"Why should we care about a gym battle when Ash is missing?" Gary asks harshly, interrupting Brock and turning his anger onto him.

"Pardon me but **Delia** and I need to leave," her companion says as politely as he could. She knows he's trying to defuse the situation or else he would have just dragged her away to watch this gym battle. And she kind of wishes he wouldn't stretch out her name like that, it'll make it suspicious. "We'd like to see the gym battle before we leave."

"And who are you?" Gary asks. Yellow wanted to face-palm, yet she resists the urge to. If Gary can't recognize the gym leader, then it means one of two things; Gary really didn't study the gyms and their leaders as they thought he did, or Lieutenant Surge's disguise is really convincing.

"I'm a friend of hers," he answers with a laugh. "The name's L.T."

"Sorry to interrupt but we have to leave. NOW!" Misty says while trying to push Gary out of the Pokémon Center. There's also a group of Pokémon who are trying to help Misty with Gary, who's trying to dig his feet in the ground. "We need to catch up with Ashura before it's too late!"

"And where is Ash?" Gary asks. Yellow stops listening as her mind went into overdrive.

They need to see this gym battle to finally prove this team of gym trainers and their leader is the problem, not the electric Pokémon nor the gym itself. Yet the name on the pamphlet brings out a few more questions, like how did they get this printed so fast?

She doesn't hear "L.T." calling out to her.

Most importantly her son has an alias. Gary stressed out his alias _last name_ as hers because she's his mother. And while she doesn't know where he came up with such a name, she's beginning to suspect how it's spelled. Honestly she wouldn't have figured it out had Misty and Gary both not say his name as they did.

She doesn't notice when the rest of the group try calling out to her.

Ash, her little baby boy, has an alias. He has Pokémon, and a license, and people to support him… but he has Pokémon and a license.

She doesn't notice when someone touches her, trying to get a response.

She knows her son; he doesn't like people in pain, bullied, criticized negatively and blamed with something they couldn't help. Here are people who are in pain and bullied, there are Pokémon who are criticized negatively and blamed with something they couldn't help.

She doesn't notice when the chancey comes up to see if everything is alright.

They need to catch them in the act. Her disabled son has an alias and Pokémon. These people need to be stopped. He is standing up to them. They'll hurt anyone to get what they want. Her son is fighting back.

She doesn't notice when the man who looks like Red's brother's twin tries something.

He's going to get hurt! She needs to protect him!

She needs to catch these guys in the act! She needs to put the blame on the proper one!

Her thoughts bounce back and forth between the two. She needs to protect her son! She needs to stop these abusers! She needs to do both! But she can't do both! She needs to stop her son! But then those abusers would get away with what they done! She needs to catch them! But she'll lose her son!

She doesn't notice when her mouth opens, or the breath she took. She can't tell what's more important; her duty or her family. All she knew; "My son is challenging the gym!?"

* * *

 **AN: In case you missed the AN at the beginning; I WILL BE DELETING THIS STORY WITHIN THIS MONTH!** Unless I get enough people telling me otherwise.

 **On another note; I don't think I'll be able to continue to write Sacred Illusions. Ever since my Grandma died, I can't seem to get back into it. The part of the chapter I have written down is short and not worth posting just yet. I forgot what I'm doing with it and I can't seem to figure out what I need to do.**

 **I will still be writing, just not this one... for now.**

 **Sorry for the inconveniences this may cause. Thank-you for your support.**


	5. Vermilion's Shocking Showdown Cadet Ash

**Disclaimer; I don't own the license to Pokemon. I do have a few games and plushies.**

 **AN; I know I said I'll delete this within the month. I was tempted... until some reviewers admit they do like this. And these are the people I like getting a review from, so... yeah, going keep going for one more chapter at least.**

 **So I'm going to do one more chapter, the one I wanted to do but couldn't get out until now.**

 **Warning! This chapter is long, like three pages short of thirty! Or 13,977 words long, which ever works for you. And no line breaks. And this is just Ash's and his team's point of view! There's still the audience to go and I don't think I'll ever write it.**

 **It's also in need of a beta reader as it is choppy at best. And while it stays in third person, it jumps from different characters at times. And I first wrote "Lil Ribbon", then changed it to "Lil' Ribbon" and had to add '. I may have missed one or two though.**

 **Please leave a review. Hopefully I'll write two, maybe three more chapters. Or I get rid of this sometime during the next month, which ever comes first.**

 **For fun; can anyone guess what Pokemon are in this chapter by their nicknames?**

* * *

The person at the reception is… well, impatient. Ash gets the feeling that she doesn't care much for her job. He hands her the documents for his medical needs and she puts it to the side, saying, "I'll get this to the Gym Leader as soon as possible."

For Ash, it's unsettling since this should be the main priority. His match is starting shortly, for crying out loud! But he didn't want to upset his team any more than they already are.

The doors for challengers open, revealing a maze of an intense training course with electricity coursing through it. Now Ash knew all gyms have different interiors as well as tests for the trainers, but he wasn't expecting this! This is a death trap!

"Will the next challenger please enter the arena," a voice on the PA system says. Ash freezes in his spot, trying hard not to panic. His heart beats fast, his breathing becomes short and quick and his body is trembling badly.

He knows the observers are putting bets on just how bad he'll be. He heard them as he came in. He wonders if they had a bet on how he'll lose; like dropping dead from fear.

A part of him wonders if he could take that bet.

Soft paws touches his hand and he looks to see his partner on their brethren's head looking concern. He wonders what is going through her mind as he sees the concern in her eyes. She pats his pants as though she's trying to reassure him everything is going to be fine.

Her energy, her aura, flows through him in a soothing wave. Most of his nervousness vanishes and he can feel her emotions; nervousness and concern are the domination feelings, though he can feel her trust in him. He allows his aura to flow though her, trying to show that he appreciate her near him and though he is frighten… he trusts her.

At the corner of his eyes, he could see a normal raichu looking at them. It wasn't the one from the Pokémon Center, yet Ash can't help but feel as though he met it, him, once.

The raichu wasn't looking at them as though they were inferior to him, but with curiosity and… amusement? Ash isn't too sure but the raichu looks as though it knows something, something so obvious that it is easily missed. The raichu nods his head towards the direction of the challenge area before leaving to join the crowd.

Ash didn't have time to think about it since it was his time to head out. His team is following closely, just to make sure they wouldn't get separated. Even Lil' Ribbon knew to stay close and not wonder off like she usually does.

Soon enough they enter what looks like a training camp. The stands for onlookers resemble watchtowers. There are even searchlights all over the place; at least, that's what it looks like to Ash. He's in the area just before this camp. No one from the stands can see him yet nor can the gym trainers see what's going on, and he's very grateful for that.

"Are you the next victim?" a voice asks, causing Ash to look at the trainers. They are all huge and threatening and are dressed in military clothes. The one who spoke is just off to the side with a couple behind them, getting ready to get to their posts.

Ash could only nods as his throat tightens. He can hear his starter growling quietly, trying to intimidate them or let them know that she wouldn't let them hurt him. It's both relaxing and terrifying, more for the thought than the action.

"Well, I wasn't expecting you to look the part, but that doesn't matter," the voice, a female trainer, says with indifference. Ash looks at his outfit, from the camo jacket to the camo pants and even the army boots and is surprised to see that it doesn't look too different from them. Only his gloves are somewhat out of place, but he wasn't ready to go bare-handed. "The rules are simple: Survive the obstacle course, unlock the General's tent, defeat the troop and avoid the traps. Are there any question?"

"Is the obstacle course made for amateurs?" Ash asks, trying to hide just how scared he is. With how his voice cracked and how loud it was, he doesn't think he did a good job.

"One size fits all," the woman says with a shrug. Ash gets the feeling she doesn't care for the challengers, nor does the rest of the gym if this is design for elite soldiers. "Whenever you're ready. If you still want the badge, that is."

Ash doesn't answer. He can feel his heart beating fast and can feel his palms sweat from fear. He's trying to remember to breathe and focus on the task at hand.

 ** _'Ash?'_** a familiar voice, that's like silk, questions in his mind. **_'What are you doing here?'_**

 _'Silk Ryder? Where are you?'_ Ash thought to him, being very careful not to speak out loud or make it seem like he's communicating to anyone.

 ** _'We're in the VIP Seats. We met someone and his raichu who got us these seats,'_** Silk Ryder explains. **_'But what are you doing? I know you're afraid of electricity, electric types and rodents. Plus you aren't good on your own yet. What are you going to do when your legs stop holding you up or you get disoriented?'_**

 ** _'No worries, Brother. He's got us looking after him,'_** another voice like an electric ocean calmly interrupts. Ash looks down at Taylor with a grateful smile.

 ** _'That doesn't answer WHY you're here and doing the challenge,'_** Silk Ryder's silk-like voice says. **_'And why you wouldn't let us know! We're all worried for you.'_**

Ash closes his eyes and focus on reading, seeing aura. It's hard for him to identify who's who, but with Taylor's help he was able to locate Silk Ryder. He can see the rest of his team and company on the other side of the gym, facing him. He opens his eyes and gives a slight nod to Taylor.

 ** _'Oh…'_** Silk Ryder voice says after only a moment of silence. **_'Okay, so the hero inside you wants to bring these bullies to justice… and you only realized it sometime after we left… and you only had those three with you… Why didn't you ask for us? We would have come in an instant!'_**

 ** _'I think it's to beat them at their own game,'_** Taylor comments softly. **_'And so he can try to overcome his fear of us. You know how much he cares, right?'_**

 ** _'Of course I do! We all do! It's so obvious!'_** Silk Ryder protests before calming down. **_'Okay, I get it; this is a trust exercise, right? And you want to trust them, show not only yourself but also everyone present that electric types aren't monsters; humans are.'_**

 _'Yeah, I guess I do,'_ Ash thought more to himself than to Silk Ryder and Taylor.

 ** _'And we're here to prove that they are abusing their power and hiding behind the laws meant to protect the innocents,'_** a new, familiar voice adds though not through their minds, more their souls or something. **_'We're not going to win; just have Dexter get enough info so the cops or whomever can come down on them.'_**

"Hey!" the woman says loudly, getting Ash's attention. He notices she looks pretty impatient and annoyed. "If you're not going to take the challenge, then you might as well leave!"

"You said we can go when we're ready and we're not ready!" Ash snaps back. Lil' Ribbon is making the best impression of nervousness and uncertainty, even sparking in fright, with the other two trying to reassure her. Before the woman can protest, Ash says; "I'd rather not provoke a young electric type to attack in fear for protection, something all of you _should_ know!"

"Whatever," the woman scoffs, but Ash can see she's embarrass. Another trainer laughs before walking up.

"Good job, Cadet," the trainer says sincerely. "Not many trainers understand the importance of reading the electric types to see how they'll react."

"I've had… experience," Ash says hesitantly. He's eyeing the electric Pokémon by that trainer's side uneasily. To his surprise, the trainer actually notices.

"I take it you have experience with handling electric types," the trainer says as an observation.

"My mom used to be an electric type specialist," Ash says carefully. It's not like anyone would figure him out as no one really knows his mom all too well. "And… I might have had a bad experience in my youth."

"Like what?" the trainer asks. Ash can't tell if the trainer is really interested or is trying to find a weakness to exploit. Well, it's not like he's already thrown himself into the lions' den, so to speak.

"A teacher one time brought in a recently caught pikachu, like caught just before school, and let a classroom full of inexperience four year olds play with it without adult supervision. Guess how that ended," he says calmly, surprising himself with it. He felt a weird sense of satisfaction when both trainers' eyes widen. Suddenly, he realize, they feel threaten by his presence.

"Well," the woman coughs, trying to save face. "I should warn you that no one is going to hold back."

"But, it doesn't exactly means you'll be working alone," the other trainer says quickly. "Just defeat us trainers and some of us might help you in one way or another."

"Do you offer this for the other trainers?" Ash asks. If they answer no, then he's got them. Although if it's yes then that begs the question; why are the other trainers badly hurt?

"Like I said; only if you beat us and only a few of us," the trainer says nervously. "I probably would get into trouble for telling you this."

"Our current Gym Leader is a powerhouse and very threatening," the woman says before Ash could ask. "Most of us are afraid to stand up to him. It doesn't help that he outranks us."

'I sure hope you got that, Dexter,' Ash thinks to himself before asking, "And why would you be afraid of him?"

"Have you seen his raichu? It's a monster!" the other trainer says in fear.

"He knows how to hide behind the rules," the woman explains quietly. She's rubbing one of her arms in nervousness. "I was caught trying to record one of the gym challenges. Not only was I punished, he made sure it's memory was wiped clean."

"Shouldn't the gym have recordings of these gym challenges?" Ash asks, both because he knows how the system should work and because he's nervous for Dexter.

"Well, yeah," the trainer says. "It's just he knows how to make things look like an accident, even to the eyewitnesses."

"And he has his raichu use an electrical pulse to wipe the trainer's electrical device clean," the woman adds. "That way there's only one way to see what's going on and no way to prove he's doing anything wrong."

Ash says nothing, just trying to figure out what to do. If this raichu uses an electrical pulse, does that mean Dexter is gone? Okay, the information being wiped clean is pretty bad, but Ash likes Dexter. He doesn't want the AI to, in a sense, die. Maybe it isn't too late to back out.

"Well, we better get to our post then," the trainer says before leaving.

"If you still want to back out, you can," the woman says as she turns to walk away. "Just don't be surprise when his raichu uses that electrical pulse to "release built-up energy", okay?"

"Thanks for the warning," Ash says quietly. When both trainers are gone, Ash opens his mind, hoping he could talk to his whole team. He's on the borderline of panicking and what he learned isn't helping matters, just making them worse!

 ** _'You know we're here,'_** Silk Ryder's thought says as it enters his mind. **_'We won't let things get too bad, and we can vouch for you.'_**

 ** _'It's going to be okay, Brother,'_** Taylor's thought says calmly. **_'I know you're scared and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't. But we aren't alone.'_**

 ** _'Besides, you did mention your disability, right?'_** Skye Grace mentions almost as a calming wind of thought. At Ash's mental nod, she says **_'Then we have nothing to worry about; either they claim they didn't know which we have proof they did, or they somehow lose footage of the challenge which is, as I understand it, a no-no.'_**

 _'I suppose you're right,"_ Ash thinks nervously. _'But what if it doesn't work? Then what?'_

 ** _'Then they'll have to deal with a team of wild Pokémon who answers to nobody but their team,'_** Fire Marshal adds like a rush of water as though it was obvious.

 ** _'I don't think it works like that,'_** Fire Heart mentions hesitantly like a burning candle.

 ** _'No, think about it,'_** Forest Warden thoughts feeling like a toxic forest adds quickly, defending Fire Marshal. **_'We are wild Pokémon. We follow Ash's orders. If we attack it's because Ash is a part of our pack, school, flock, whatever…'_**

 ** _'You forgot herd,'_** the familiar voice says through their soul as a joke. Ash's face cracked a smile and they all knew it done its job. **_'Seriously though, we need a better plan. And no, I don't think the wild Pokémon is going to fly with these guys.'_**

 ** _'Are you really afraid of us?'_** the young mind filled with static and ribbons of Lil' Ribbon asks tearfully. **_'Do you really see us as monsters? Because of what happened?'_**

 ** _'Did that really happen?'_** Pincher asks curiously, his thoughts dark and mysterious like the bottom of the ocean. **_'And this is really odd; to talk though thoughts.'_**

 _'It's… it's a long story,'_ Ash thinks, trying to hide the memories from them. It didn't exactly work but none of the Pokémon pressed farther. Well…

 ** _'Now I'm afraid of pikachu!'_** Lil' Ribbon's static thoughts travel throughout their minds. There is a series of groans but that is about it for their response.

 ** _'Amber Silk is right; we need a better plan,'_** Silk Ryder says, his silk-like mind forming like a soft yet warm blanket, trying to get everyone back on track.

 ** _'Wouldn't that strange contraption know what to do?'_** Pincher asks curiously.

 ** _'Strange contraption? Oh! You mean Dexter,'_** is the collective thoughts of the Pokémon.

 _'The problem is it isn't like us,'_ Ash explains, hoping the Pokémon can understand. _'But yes, Dexter would have been able to make up a new plan.'_

 ** _'Dexter can keep everything in texts,'_** Amber Silk mentions through their souls. She hands the device back to Ash. **_'I took him out of your pocket when I mentioned we needed a better plan. He has come up with some interesting results.'_**

The mental information she sent made them all pause and think. Dexter has three teams picked out; Team A, either standing for Ash, first team or Alfa/Alpha, are going to defeat the trainers and try to recruit as many new members as they can, Team B, either standing as Back-Up, second team or Bravo/Beta, are going to keep an eye out and only attack when they deem Team Ash is in danger of outside forces while the last team, Team C, most likely standing as Charlie but can also stand as third team, is receiving live coverage from Dexter himself.

 _'Do I want to know how Dexter is sending live coverage?'_ Ash asks, mainly to his starter.

 ** _'Um… probably not,'_** Amber Silk answers while taking it from his hand putting the small computer back into his pocket. **_'Unless this "Hacking a Signal" isn't as bad as it sounds.'_**

 _'Okay, I did not need to know he can hack,'_ Ash thinks before stepping closer to the gym's challenge course. _'I guess we'll do it his way. Is everyone alright with that?'_

 ** _'Are you sure you can handle this?'_** his Pokémon asks almost as one. His mind is filled with the elements they best represent.

 _"Look, it's just like the other times I had to fight trainers,'_ Ash thinks to them, trying to reassure them. _'It's just going to be on a bigger scale.'_

 ** _'And dealing with your biggest fear head-on,'_** Pincher comments calmly. Floating bubbles suddenly fill Ash's mind. Each of those bubbles seems to hold a different image in them, though Ash couldn't make them out. **_'By the way, this is the first time I'm seeing you battle other trainers.'_**

 ** _'Just cheer them on,'_** Skye Grace comments gently like a breeze. **_'Although, I don't like the idea of you facing your fear like this.'_**

Ash doesn't say anything. He agrees this is probably the worst way to do it and he knows he isn't ready for this. But his thoughts went back to the other trainers, the other _victims_ , and to how he felt when the same thing happened to him.

 _He doesn't want them to feel that way._

There weren't any words to say how they felt. They suddenly _understand_ just why he's doing this, even if Ash himself isn't aware. Pride seems to fill all their hearts as Team Ash makes their way to the opening of the field.

"Welcome to Vermillion City's Pokémon Gym, where electricity meets discipline," the gym's announcer says with practiced enthusiasm. "As you all know; The challenger has to make it past the obstacle course while avoiding trainers in order to meet and challenge the Gym Leader. Only the best can achieve the greatness that is the Vermillion Gym Badge. Will this next challenger fall victim to the storm or surprise us all and rise up to the challenge?"

For Ash, it isn't surprising when most of the spectators voiced his defeat. The only reason he didn't think it was all of them is because his Pokémon companions wouldn't want him out without a good fight.

"You guys ready?" he asks without looking back to his team. Immediately he feels their presence right beside him and the fire they all share burn through their souls as though they only have one. He can feel his fear of them fade away and the fear of this gym becoming bearable, like that fire burns the worst of those feelings away. "Then let's go."

"Everyone, welcome our new challenger; Ashura Ketchum," the announcer says in, once again, practiced enthusiasm. Ash and his team steps out into the open to a crowd cheering politely. There is laughter though when his team walked out. "Ashura Ketchum has two badges earned through gratitude." This information has caused the whole stadium to erupt from laughter.

Ash huffs in irritation and felt his team feeling the same way. Taylor seems to shrug it off and gave the energy of "their lost", which calms the anger down. Lil' Ribbon though, she's confused as to what is going on, or Ash thinks she is; it's the vibe he's getting from her anyway.

Looking out at the obstacle course, Ash felt so lost and overwhelmed. His hand went into his pocket where Amber Silk put Dexter in to grasps the familiar object. If only he's allowed to use Dexter for more than just scanning, then this obstacle course might not seem so frightening.

"Wait…" he says as a thought suddenly comes to mind. He looks around franticly, looking for someone to talk to. Once he spots someone who isn't on the field yet, he hurries to them with Lil' Ribbon following closely behind. "Hey, would it be alright if I use my Pokédex for navigation and strategic plans?"

"Uh," the trainer says hesitantly. It is against the rules to use any device that might help the challenger win. And yet he knows this trainer is disabled and the laws in place to help them have a fair chance.

Plus, the duel puppy eyes both the challenger and his baby Pokémon are giving him are making it harder for him to say no. Not wanting to deal with lawyers who would use the challenger's disability to their advantage, the trainer sighs and says "I don't see why not. Just don't use it to switch out Pokémon or anything like that, okay?"

"Okay, thanks," Ash says happily as he and Lil' Ribbon hurries back to the other two. "Dexter? Can you assist?"

 **"Stand By,"** the Pokédex beeps in monotone. **"What Do You Need Assistance Of?"**

"Can you do a map of the place? As well as give some strategic tips and advice?" Ash asks calmly. His team is ready to head into their first challenge, yet Ash wasn't ready.

 **"One Moment Please,"** Dexter beeps. **"I Will Give Possible Directions As We Proceed. However This Gym Seems To Be Design To Change Courses Depending On Who You Manage To Defeat Or Avoid. I Will Give Suggestions Once The Situations Call For It."**

"Thankyou Dexter," Ash says as he puts the device around his neck. "Now, where do I start?"

 **"The Obstacle Course Most Easy For Your Needs Is The One To Your Left,"** Dexter beeps. **"If You Don't Remember Which Way Is Left, Consult Your Team."**

"Amber Silk?" Ash asks sweetly. His starter laughs and went on ahead. Ash begins to follow when Dexter sends a warning beep. On instinct Ash ducked and rolled.

The cries of Lil' Ribbon causes him to look back and he sees her cornered by three electric types; magnemite, voltorb and jolteon. He looks a little ways away and sees a pikachu charging its electricity and looking at him.

He quickly gets up and, to the surprise of everyone around him, charges towards Lil' Ribbon. He jumps in and out in a quick session with Lil' Ribbon safely in his arms. He rolls out of the way of the electric attacks.

Without stopping he stands up with Lil' Ribbon moving to one of his shoulders and runs off. He feels his hairs on the back of his neck and sidesteps out of another electric strike. He picks up speed and jumps over a small wall, landing in a roll and standing up to run and catching Lil' Ribbon, who happened to jump off his shoulder when he leapt over the wall.

"Dexter, analysis!" he yells before dodging another electric bolt.

 **"I Wasn't Prepared For This,"** the Pokédex beeps almost sincerely if it wasn't monotone. **"Best Course Of Action Is Dodging The Best You Can, Keep Your Eye On Your Surroundings And Stay Close To Your Team."**

"Where are Amber Silk and Taylor?" Ash questions before running on another wall to change directions. Lil' Ribbon is doing her best not to spark in fright and to look for another path or something useful. She sees a rope swing and points to it.

Ash looks at it, back at the Pokémon chasing him and all around. Adrenaline is keeping him moving and focus on getting to safety. He spots more Pokémon ready to intercept them as he makes his way to the rope swing.

Lil' Ribbon jumps from his arms at the same moment he jumped. She reached the rope first and made sure it wasn't electrified. It was but now the current is ending with her and not Ash who grabbed the rope underneath her at almost the same time.

Their momentum made the rope swing move to a full swing. Because they jumped at an angle, they manage to avoid the Pokémon waiting for them. It swung them towards a wall yet Ash just ran along the sides of it and changes course. The wall was electrified and Ash is very grateful that Taylor made these boots out of rubber.

"Dexter, report!" Ash yells just before he lets go of the rope swing. He landed in a roll and uses the momentum to keep ahead of the electric Pokémon. Lil' Ribbon has decided to take a different path than him to try to locate the other two.

 **"Lil' Ribbon Has Went Down A Different Path,"** Dexter chime.

"Tell me something I don't know," Ash mutters as he rolls out of the way of another electric bolt. He's noticing that the Pokémon aren't really chasing them; just using electric attacks.

 **"Amber Silk Is Doing Her Best Distracting The Opponents While Taylor Is Trying To Open Paths For You And Lil' Ribbon,"** Dexter beeps. **"There Isn't Enough Data To Confirm If The Pokémon Can Only Use Electrical Attacks Or If They Are Just Trying To Wear You Down."**

"Keep me updated, then," Ash says as he tries to lose the Pokémon. Every possible path he sees has something of an electrical current running through them, making it hard for him. It's like a death trap!

His legs suddenly lock up, causing Ash to fall to the ground, rolling with the momentum. He tries moving, but his lower body wouldn't budge. He can hear his Pokémon calling to him, worriedly.

"Dexter! …H…help," Ash struggles to get out. Panic is starting to settle in and he can feel his body starting to shut down. ' _Of course it is; it was never good with handling stress.' **Don't give up until it's over!**_

 **"Amber Silk Is On Her Way,"** Dexter beeps. **"You Are In Danger Of The Pokémon Catching Up But I Wouldn't Worry; Your Team Is Looking Out For You And Would Help You."**

Amber Silk appears in a flash of lightning and attacked the Pokémon, chasing them away. Ash can feel his chest let out a breath he didn't realize he was holding in and his shoulders relaxing. He can feel her aura; it's letting everyone know she means business.

 **"Ash,"** Dexter beeps almost urgently. **"Can You Move?"**

He starts crawling, but his lower body just couldn't move. He can feel them and he knows they aren't physically damage, there's no reason they can't move and yet his head hurts when he tries to move them. There's really only one thing he can do at the moment; use his arms as legs.

"Amy," he struggles to say. His partner is by his side in an instant and fear grips his heart. His memories flashed to their first day; the battle in the storm. All of a sudden, that's where he is; in the middle of a thunderstorm, under attack and with her becoming a monster trying to protect him.

 _'Why can't I forget that?'_ he thinks as he tries to breath. _'She has never hurt me! She tries to protect me, not once has she tried to hurt me!'_

 _'Neither had those wild pikachu,'_ a thought came to him. Suddenly he's in the classroom with his classmates and two frighten, and in pain, wild pikachu. The kids weren't leaving them alone. The two wanted to be safe, and Ash pushed the other children away from the blast… and got hit instead.

 _'They only wanted to protect each other; what makes her different?'_

 ** _"Ash?"_** his partner's soul seems to ask worriedly. He looks at her, trying to see _her_ and not _what_ she is. **_Don't give up until it's over!_** **_"You ready?"_**

Ash looks in her eyes, and all he could see is understanding. She knows he's afraid, she knows electricity scares him, terrifies him. And she _understands_ this is hard; not just mentally but physically as well. _That's the difference._

Ash gives a nod and feels her aura, her _soul_ ; go in sync with his before sending low electrical currents though his body. It wasn't instant, and it hurt a lot, but movement came back to his legs, just enough to crawl away, and not very fast.

 **"Warning! Electrical Pokémon Moving In Fast,"** Dexter beeps suddenly. **"Estimated Time Of Arrival; Ten Seconds."**

Amber Silk immediately went into a defective stance. Her body hunch low and fur standing on end, trying to make herself look bigger. Ash tries to stand up but his body isn't cooperating fast enough.

A swarm of magnemite and magneton surrounds them and creates an electrical barrier… that was then absorbed into Amber Silk's tail.

"Pinball Dash!" Ash cries out. Amber Silk moves quickly in return. The electricity keeps heading to her tail as she charges at, and soon jumping off, each of the opponents much like a pinball. The only difference is she does change course if Ash is in the way.

Ash has his ears covered and Dexter put up a sound barrier around him. The boom noise Amber Silk is creating with her "lightning" fast attack is muffed greatly. Had it not, Ash probably would be deaf, which is what his mother warned him once as a young child.

 _'I really need to stop going down memory lane,'_ Ash thinks as he opens his eyes. The magnemite and magneton have all been repelled by now and he can see a path towards one of the trainers. If he can make it there, then things would start to get easier, he hopes. The Gym Trainers are supposed to help the disabled if their health is jeopardized.

Amber Silk is on his shoulder. She's connected her aura to his and is trying to heal him. They both knew it wasn't going to be enough, but it was something. They manage to make it before those Pokémon unstuck themselves.

"Greetings Cadet," the trainer says intimidating. Ash feels a shiver go down his spine with the way this trainer is looking at him. Like a predator sizing up his prey. "Rules are simple; defeat me and a path to our leader would open. Get defeated and you lose. And you can only use the Pokémon you came in with."

 **"Ashura's Medical Condition Is Hampering In His Ability To Move,"** Dexter beeps, obviously communicating with the trainer.

"If it was such a problem, then he shouldn't have taken the challenge," the trainer says with a shrug. Ash could feel Amber Silk growling and her claws digging into his shoulder, though not enough to cause pain, oddly.

 **"We Have Given The Appropriate Document At The Front Desk Prior To Our Challenge,"** Dexter beeps. To Ash, he almost sounds frustrated. **"Not Only That But I Have Registered Ashura As Disabled. If There Was A Problem Then He Wouldn't Have Been Registered For This Challenge."**

"Not my problem," the trainer says with an indifference shrug. As he pulls out a Pokéball, he adds, "You can never trust a computer anyway."

The Pokéball opens to reveal a pikachu ready to fight. Ash really didn't want to send in Amber Silk, in case he collapses again. But he doesn't know where the other two are and he's pretty sure he can't act as a Pokémon. The others would definitely kill him if he even suggested the idea!

"Rai-Rai," Taylor's voice calls from above. He drops right in front of them and into a protective stance. The growl Ash hears from Taylor made his blood run cold. For all the times he had seen the wild raichu, admittedly it wasn't very often, he had not once growled like this to anyone!

"Alright then Pikachu, show them what a gym Pokémon is capable of!" the trainer says as a warmup. Then he orders an attack. "Show them you're Thundershock!"

It didn't do much damage to Taylor, but it did make Ash see something unsettling. Taylor did a battle cry before attacking himself. His Thunderbolt looks a little too powerful to Ash. The attack hit the pikachu hard, almost knocking it out.

"Don't be a weakling!" the trainer says to his pikachu. "Get up and fight!"

The pikachu stood up shakily and got ready to fight. Before it could, Taylor went in with a Body Slam. The pikachu was out like a light after that.

"Stupid weak Pokémon," the trainer mutters just loud enough for Ash to hear. "Losing a fight so easily to a mutant!"

"Raichu!" Taylor growls threatening at the trainer. Ash could see the sparks coming off of him and he knew he has to do something. He has to be sure of one thing.

"Dexter," he says while picking up his Pokédex from around his neck. "Show me Taylor's electrical storage input and output. And analyze the gym for electrical currents design as booby-traps."

It only took Dexter a moment to gather all the data Ash asks for. Ash had put himself in between the trainer and Taylor, but isn't sure how much Taylor sees him as a friend. No, the data he got proves something he worries about; electrical overload.

"Amber Silk, see if you… c…can…n't get the…" Ash struggles to say before stopping. He opens up his mind, hoping Silk Ryder gets the message to her. Amber Silk nods before jumping off his shoulder. As then turns his attention to the trainer.

 _"You're Cheating!"_ he yells, letting his aura flare to communicate. **_Don't give up until it's over!_** _"This whole gym is designed to weaken the trainers and their chosen Pokémon! Most of the obstacle course is electrified and would have given the challengers a nasty shock! Not only that but the Pokémon hunting them are there to tire them out so you'll have an easier victory!"_

"Heh, you're the first person to figure that out," the trainer says emotionless. "Too bad no one's going to know, since you won't get out here alive. Boss won't let you."

 _'Guys? I'm ditching the plan,'_ Ash thinks to his team and Pokémon. _'The Pokémon chasing us are going to wear us out before we even get close to the Gym Leader. Plus, with Taylor's electrical overload… there's just no way we could survive.'_

 ** _'How do you expect to win?'_** Skye Grace whirlwind of worry and thoughts asks.

 ** _'I thought the plan was to prove they're unfair?'_** the flame of Fire Heart's uncertain thoughts burn through, causing Ash to wince in pain.

 ** _'Ash? I don't feel well,"_** the static thoughts of Lil' Ribbon call through. Ash could feel the pain she's in and it's beginning to cloud her thoughts.

 ** _'Taylor's well, I'm going after Lil' Ribbon,'_** the soul of his start says before Ash saw her running off. He hopes she can get to her in time.

 ** _'Okay, Plan B… What's plan B?'_** Silk Ryder asks in a flutter of worry. **_'Please say we have a plan B, please!'_**

 _'We just need to get to the Gym Leader ASAP,'_ Ash thinks while looking over his Pokédex. Taylor did look better, like all of the excess energy is out. He's also eyeing the trainer wearily in case he does something. _'I'm open to suggestions, if you have any.'_

 ** _'Dumb question; who's the gym leader?'_** Fire Marshal's river of thoughts gushes through. Ash could feel he's thinking of something but needs a piece to finish this puzzle. **_'And I don't mean "the man in the Gym Leader place".'_**

Ash thinks hard to remember all of the gym leaders in Kanto and where they reside. Brock of Pewter City, the Waterflower Sisters of Cerulean City, Erika of Celadon City, Sabrina of Saffron City, Blaine of Cinnabar Island, Giovanni of Viridian City, Koga of Fuchsia City and… the name slips away like he knows but he can't grasp it.

 _'Brock=rock, Misty=water, Erika=grass, Sabrina=psychic, Blaine=fire, Koga=poison, Giovanni=ground… who is electric?'_ Ash thinks hard, putting his hands on his head. He looks over the stadium, hoping it would somehow bring the memory up.

The gym is design to be a military obstacle course with energy as its theme. The large searchlights seem to be made to intimidate the challengers and the whole "camp" just screams "soldier training area". It shouldn't be hard to forget who the gym leader is if the gym is a reflection of him, yet the name and face escapes Ash.

His eyes wonder pass the searchlights and to the stands. The spectators almost look like lookouts or something; just watching and waiting to see his defeat.

His eyes look onto another set of eyes so far away it's hard to see them, and yet Ash suddenly _knew_ those eyes; they belong to the Raichu from earlier! A surge of electricity went through that area causing Ash's eyes go wide.

 _Pain courses though his body as he becomes aware. There're sounds, beeping, in someplace that is empty. There is something soft and heavy on his chest, a familiar feeling of static, though different then what he remembers, tickles through the pain he feels, bringing in a strange sense of comfort. There's the same feeling towards his sides as well as the felling of protection._

 _There's something outside, something frightening. The two soft static feelings moved away and he no longer felt as safe. The one on his chest moves only so slightly, wrapping a thick wire around him protectively._

 _He opens his eyes to see warm concern eyes looking at him. He knows it's a raichu staring back, but it wasn't one he's familiar with. Its body is more fit than the ones he knows, like it's trained for war._

 _The raichu made no movement except to show he isn't a threat. A breath leaves his chest that he hadn't realized he was holding in as his tense body relaxes. He can feel the raichu's energy pulsing through him, giving comfort._

 _The other two came back and seems happy to see him awake. There's so much pain yet he can't help but feel happy seeing them. Yet he soon realizes he can't move. He was about to panic until he notices the raichu couple giving him nuzzles, the ones parents give their young for comfort._

 _A man, a soldier, walks in and the raichu on his chest acknowledge him, yet made no movement to leave. The man pulls a chair up and sits down._

 _"Gave us all a scare there Kid," the man says. "The doctors said you wouldn't understand what I'm saying if you ever woke up. Didn't think you could after all that… eh, electrocution."_

 _The man gave a sad sigh as he leans back and looks at the ceiling. "Don't understand why the teacher thought it was a good idea to catcha couple of wild pikachu for the class to play with. Neither does your parents, by the way."_

 _The three raichu starts talking to each other. It sounds like a question is being asked with a shake of the head for an answer. He isn't sure what's going on._

 _Suddenly the memories of the two pikachu, two frighten pikachu mind you, being surrounded by rowdy kids. They sent warning sparks but he was the only one to have noticed, it seems. Yeah, he remembers also wanting to snuggle with them; he has never seen a darker yellow pikachu before, but he lives with electric Pokémon and knew the signs._

 _He remembers the pain when their electricity finally released in full force._

 _He wants to ask. He wants to know. Are his classmates okay? Are the pikachu safe? Why can't he move? Why can't he speak?_

 _"Well, I best be going," the man says sadly as he stands up. "Not much I can do to a braindead kid. Gotta talk to your parents, as well. Make sure your dad doesn't do anything stupid."_

 _The other two raichu, his parents' raichu he remembers, also stood up to leave. The one on his chest also moved and he realized it, he, was going to leave him as well! Panic fills his mind as he tries to get them to stay, but his body and voice wouldn't obey!_

 _The wire-tail starts moving away and he tries so hard to do something!_

 _"Rai?" he hears the raichu says in surprise. He sees the raichu's eyes light up and a smile, one that screams confidence, forms on his face. "Rai-raichu!"_

 _"What is it, Sargent?" the man asks as he turns around. The raichu's smile is smug now as he lifts his tail. The man laughs in disbelief; "Well, I don't…_

 _"Hey kid," he calls out. He seems to be in between wanting to hope and not. "Are you there?"_

 _It hurts to move, it hurts to think, and yet he blinks slowly and keeps his eyes on the man. This seems to satisfy the man as his face broke into a smile, and is seemingly relieved._

 _"Well, I got to hand it to you; you're more of a soldier than most of my men, fighting the odds like this," he says as he walks back, just to ruffle his hair. "I gotta go and talk to your parents. They'll be so happy to know you're awake. Sargent! You don't let him out of your sight!"_

 _"Rai Chu!" the raichu says with a salute. The other two raichu leaves with the man. The raichu tugs his tail, trying to pry it away. Not wanting to be alone, his hand grips tighter._

Ash blinks as the memory fades and reality came back into focus. Time hadn't moved much since the gym's wild Pokémon are not close yet. **_Don't give up until it's over!_**

Wait, wild Pokémon…

 ** _'Ash?'_** the fire of Fire Heart's mind echoes in his own with concern.

 _'I'm fine guys,'_ he thinks to them. _'Listen, I think I have an idea.'_

 ** _'Well, great,'_** Fire Marshal's thoughts torrent through. **_'Because I've got nothing. What is it?'_**

 _'I need to clear something up first,'_ he thinks before his aura flares to communicate to the trainer. _"You know, it's illegal for the gym to have their Pokémon hunt trainers like this."_

"It's only the gym in-use Pokémon that can't attack," the trainer clarifies. "It's not our fault should the Pokémon not in-use want to let out some extra energy."

 **"It's Also Not Illegal Should Wild Pokémon Come Into The Gym And Cause Havoc,"** Dexter beeps. Ash barely holds back a smile at this.

"Ture," the trainer says indifferently. "It's kind of a pain when they do though."

Ash doesn't say anything as he and Taylor take off, with Ash's mobility being better than it was before. Dexter beeps, causing Ash to look at the Pokédex. On Dexter's screen, there is a map of the gym, all of its electrical currents and the switches to operate them. **_Don't give up until it's over!_**

Ash sends the mental image to his gym team. He feels their agreement and understanding what he's getting at. His other Pokémon sent a mental note to him; they're ready to do their part of the plan.

Taylor stops at a climbing wall and readies his tail. Ash steps onto Taylor's tail and jump off of it as it launch him into the air. The momentum he got propelled him up the wall with ease. Ash lands on the narrow top of the wall and made sure he had balance before moving on.

Taylor scales the wall pretty quick but took a different path than Ash. A part of their plan is to divide and conquer. They hope they can throw off their enemy if they look like they don't have a plan and aren't communicating.

Ash stumbles a landing and fell. He struggles to get up yet he can feel the ground move underneath him. At first he thought his balance is off again, until Lil' Ribbon lands on top of him. The ground beneath him starts falling apart and Ash nearly fell into a cavern below.

I said nearly since Lil' Ribbon had a rope and tied a hasty knot around his waist. The knot had come undone since it couldn't handle his weight, but Ash's reflex has improved and not only was he able to grab the rope, but hold onto it as well… for about ten seconds.

Turns out ten seconds were all he needed as a part of the floor came back. He had to jump off of it before it crumbled under his weight. He didn't clear it enough to be safe, though he did have his upper body on a ledge and didn't fall right in. Lil' Ribbon tries pulling him up as he pushes himself up. **_Don't give up until it's over!_**

A jolteon tries attacking them by pouncing on them. But it was knocked away by something ramming into it... hard. That jolteon hit a wall so hard, the wall cracked under it.

Skye Grace chirps before flying off.

Lil' Ribbon gave a battle cry and manages to help pull Ash away from the cliff. The little Pokémon collapses in exhaustion, panting to try to get oxygen in her veins.

Ash cringes with the sparks of electricity coming from the arena. His breath is labored and his arms are shaking. Yet Ash still stands up and picks up Lil' Ribbon and held her close.

 **"Ashura,"** Dexter beeps, getting the young trainer's attention. **"With The Current State Of Both The Gym And Your Health; I'd Suggest You Quit… If That Were An Option. However, Since That Is Out Of The Question For Various Of Reasons, I Suggest You Take Things Slow And Stay On Guard. I Will Give You More Information And Better Results When The Data Becomes Available. Good Luck."**

 **"Thank You,"** he hears Lil' Ribbon says sleepily. She fell fast asleep soon after, causing Ash a bit of worry. He places her safely in his jacket before moving on. He has to find the switches and get to the gym leader before all of his team in unable to fight!

The beep from Dexter causes Ash to pick it up and look at the screen. _Don't Worry. As Long As Lil' Ribbon Wakes Up Before You Use Her In Battle, She Won't Count As A Fainted Pokémon, Just Asleep. Keep Her Hidden And Safe Until She Wakes Up._

The text calms Ash's nerves back to the point before Lil' Ribbon fell asleep. It is, to be honest, still pretty high. But at least he isn't going into a full-blown panic attack just yet.

Bubbles and water and fire and webs and wind and grass are being thrown around, attacking the Pokémon chasing them. Ash barely gave this any mind, only focused on trying to finish the course, find the Gym Leader and get answers!

He can't stop to think. If he stops to think, he'll remember where he is and what is surrounding him. If he remembers then he'll become terrified. **_Don't give up until it's over!_** If he becomes terrified then he'll let the victims down and then all of the electric type Pokémon would he hunted and killed and banned and it'll be his fault like it was years ago and…

 ** _'Ash! Snap out of it!'_** the soul of his partner says firmly. His thoughts clear up and he can see that he's running towards a trainer and finally stops. To be honest, he doesn't want to battle anyone other than the gym leader. He doesn't want to risk it.

He takes a moment to look around. He sees a zip line that leads down towards a switch! He only spares a moment's thought before heading towards it.

The moment he jumped and touch it did he realize something; it's electrified! He begins to fall and closed his eyes, only to open them when he felt claws grabbing one of his hands while the other grabs it out of reflexes.

He sees Amber Silk struggling to hold him with Taylor struggling to hold her. Since it still feels like they're falling, though now diagonally instead of straight, he looks past Taylor to see the raichu's tail is on the zip line as an anchor or something. The electricity is coursing through the electric type and to Amber Silk, though it doesn't reach him.

Ash looks ahead to see the floor coming in at alarming speed. He twists his body around before letting go of Amber Silk. She couldn't hold his weight anymore anyway as her claws slips through his hand. He can hear her cry out with worry.

He lands on his feet and went into a roll, just as his mentor taught him when landing from heights. Amber Silk follows suit and land rolls just ahead. Taylor had to be creative to get his tail unstuck from the zip line, but he too manages to land nearby.

 **"What happened?"** Lil' Ribbon asks as she pokes her head out of his jacket and looks around. **"What'd I miss?"**

"Cadet!" Ash turns around to face the voice that called out to him. The trainer from earlier, the one who told him about the recruits, comes running up. **_Don't give up until it's over!_** Ash could swear the trainer looks worried. "Are you okay?"

Ash just looks at the trainer with a harden glare. Inside he's freaking out; there's no way his Pokémon can handle a Pokémon battle. Not without suffering an electrical overload!

A growl from his jacket stops the trainer from advancing any closer. Ash _knew_ Lil' Ribbon feels threaten; he just didn't expect her to start growling while in his jacket! He thought she might just hide away, like she always does to Misty.

Although, that's more hiding in Misty's sack than in any jackets; Misty doesn't wear jackets.

 **"This Gym's Interior Has Been Changing Ever Since We've Started And Everything Has Been Electrified Without A Way For Ashura To Tell The Difference,"** Dexter beeps. It sounds like, to Ash, that Dexter is angry even though his voice is monotone. **"There Are Pokémon Chasing Us When No One Gave Us A Warning Beforehand About Them. I Cannot Access Information If We Should Battle Them Or Not. And Out Team Is Experiencing Electrical Overload From All Of The Loose Electricity They're Absorbing. Do I Need To Keep Listing Everything Wrong With This Challenge?"**

"Look, I don't make the rules," the trainer says defensively. "And I'm not saying any more unless you beat me in a Pokémon battle!"

 **"NO! I don't wanna battle!"** Lil' Ribbon cries out suddenly. Ash could feel the pain she's in when the electricity becomes too much. She hides in his jacket and whimpers; **"Please don't make me battle… please. I don't wanna touch the floor."**

He suddenly realizes something; she's afraid of electricity! And she's an electric type! Now what is he going to do?

"Taylor, Amber Silk," he says as an order. The two went to his side without question and waits to see what the trainer would do. Ash looks right at the trainer with hard eyes and says, "You first."

"Alright then, I choose Voltorb," the trainer says while throwing a Pokéball. The Pokéball opens to reveal a purple voltorb. The voltorb looks pretty tough…

"Taylor," Ash says while getting Amber Silk on his shoulder. "You got this?"

The strange raichu gave a nod and jumps onto the field. Amber Silk's aura went into sync with his, giving him the energy and strength he needs.

"Voltorb, Sonicboom!" the trainer says. Voltorb moves by rolling before launching the attack. Taylor saw it coming and dodged it, barely. Part of the attack manages to hit his tail, and what has missed hit the wall behind Ash, causing some damage.

Taylor turns his head to see if his comrades are okay, only to step on an electrified panel and get a nasty shock. While he could handle electricity, thanks to being an electric type, his sacs are full and therefore cannot absorb any more electricity without causing an overload.

"Taylor!" Ash cries in alarm. He can see what is going on and he knows Taylor can't take much more without going crazy, or worse… explode. He has to find a way to get that extra electricity out of him! ** _Don't give up until it's over!_**

"Get 'em again, Voltorb," the trainer orders. The voltorb rolls again before firing. This time Taylor couldn't get out of the way in time and took the hit. It didn't do too much damage as Taylor is at a higher level than the voltorb.

The voltorb rolls away before Taylor can launch a counter attack. Taylor growls in frustration but otherwise kept his cool. He does flinch in pain with the electrified floor.

"Again," the trainer calls out. Taylor sees the voltorb rolling and he leapt away from it. The voltorb's attack missed, hitting the wall behind Ash again. Debris fell and Ash had to jump to get out of the way.

Taylor looks over to see if Ash and his team are alright. Lil Ribbon has fallen out of Ash's jacket and is panicking. Amber Silk is torn with helping Ash or going to her little sister to calm her down. Ash sits up with a groan but otherwise looks to be unharmed. ** _Don't give up until it's over!_**

Taylor glares at the trainer before noticing something; the trainer seems… regretful. There is a raichu, the same one that belonged to that bully who picked on Nurse Joy back at the Pokémon Center, watching from a distance. This trainer looks over to it before ordering an attack.

"Again, Voltorb!" The voltorb rolls again before launching its attack. Taylor Run towards the attack to make sure he takes it all. If he hadn't, his team would have been buried under all that rubble of metal and rubber.

 ** _'Guys!'_** Taylor thinks to all of his acquaintances. **_'The trainer doesn't want to do this!'_**

 ** _'Then why is…'_** Silk Ryder's silky thoughts ask before he stops. **_'It's that raichu watching them, isn't it?'_**

 ** _'Yeah,'_** Taylor thinks. He does something he doesn't really like; he read the surface of the minds of everyone in his range. **_'It's almost as though… they have been bullied or something. They're doing this because they're afraid of their "leader". I don't know if this makes it worse or better.'_**

 ** _'Either or,'_** Fire Marshal's gentle stream of thoughts says almost dismissively. **_'Point is we need to stop this injustice before all electric types are hunted down ALL OVER THE WORLD!'_**

 ** _'What is Ash doing?'_** Skye Grace asks. **_'Ash? What are you doing?'_**

Ash doesn't mentally answer them. A look into his mind and they could see puzzle pieces of information moving around and fitting together, though some do not right away. They couldn't make it out, but it seems as though Ash does.

 _'Amber Silk, calm Lil' Ribbon down,'_ Ash says to his partner through their connection. _'Everyone else; keep doing what you're doing and wait for an opening, especially you, Taylor.'_

His Pokémon gave mental nods and left him alone. Ash looks at the voltorb before back at the piece he holds. His hands work their magic on creating something new. His hobby of making accessories is surprisingly coming in handy right now as well as the lesson his mother and Dexter gave him.

"I can't help but notice how your voltorb keeps rolling around like that," Ash says to the trainer, though not really looking up from his project. "And that it seems to either be avoiding the electrical current in the floor, or knows where the current is turned off."

"What are you suggesting?" the trainer asks nervously.

"Observing," Ash says with a shrug. "Taylor seems to always step on an electrical current while your voltorb isn't affected by it."

"Just a stroke of luck," the trainer says. Ash can tell that answer is rehearsed, though he isn't sure _how_ he knew that.

"Alright then," Ash says calmly. The pieces are still falling into place, though he still can't make them out. "I still wonder how it is that my team keeps getting shacked while everyone else in this gym seems just fine. You'd think there will be others who aren't as lucky."

"Of course we know how this works," the trainer says. "We train on constantly on this electrical terrain."

A mental lightbulb went off in Ash's head as the final piece fell into place. He looks at the thing in his lap, thinking again. The shape is right and if he can have Amber Silk on his shoulder, syncing their aura bit longer, then maybe…

"Then perhaps it's time for a change," Ash says as he stands up. **_Don't give up until it's over!_**

"What are you talking about?" the trainer asks.

"Lil' Ribbon," Ash says to the young Pokémon. His heart leaps in his chest watching her spark in fright. What he's going to ask isn't going to help… much. "I know you're scared. I am too."

 **"It hurts so much,"** Lil' Ribbon whines in pain. Amber Silk is taking it out of her, but the baby Pokémon is still frightened. **"Please make it stop."**

"I know, and I'm going to try," Ash says as he kneels to her level. The little Pokémon looks at him and their eyes lock. Ash can see the fear and the pain in her eyes, but also the trust she has for him. He hopes it's enough. "I need you to be brave. Can you do that?"

 **"I don't know,"** she says slowly. Her eyes left his only for a moment before she brought them back. **"I'm scared… but I trust you. What do you need?"**

Ash lean in closer and whispers in her big ears. Her eyes widen before she nods. She then whispers to Amber Silk the plan, causing Amber Silk to smile a devilish smile.

"Taylor!" Ash calls out. Once the raichu signals he's listening, Ash says; "Annoy that voltorb into exploding! Make sure you don't get hit!"

"Voltorb! Don't fall for it!" the trainer says. The voltorb just rolls around, avoiding Taylor.

Until Taylor's long tail scoops the Pokémon up and starts playing with it. Amber Silk and Lil' Ribbon manage to get far enough away and into areas the other Pokémon can't currently reach, thanks to the wild Pokémon distracting them.

Rolling the ball Pokémon, even jumping on it like a ball, Taylor dances with joy before throwing the Pokémon in the air. The voltorb, really annoyed now, went to self-destruct. It wasn't expecting the raichu to hit it like a baseball towards the boss raichu, and thus explodes when hitting that raichu.

"Now!" Ash cries out while the trainer, and everyone else for that matter, stood in shock. His gym team, at least Lil' Ribbon and Amber Silk, began to spark violently as he runs away from the trainer. Taylor catches on quickly and joins them with the sparking. Suddenly their sparks expands around them so quickly no one really caught what happened.

Ash jumps onto his makeshift board and starts riding on the sparks. As he expected, the makeshift board takes in the electricity and hovers just above the ground. Ash then pools his aura into the board, much like his teacher is trying to teach him, and let it act as steering.

The sparks kept growing, changing the field. No longer was the ground a mystery for the team as now everything is equally electrified. While it makes all electric types powerful, at least their moves, it allows Ash's team, both the gym and the wild, to no longer have to worry about unexpected and "shocking" surprises from the gym itself.

"Head to the Gym Leader!" Ash orders as he adjusted his course. "It's time we put a stop to this, one and for all."

Taylor flips onto his tail and starts surfing the electrical current. He picks up Lil Ribbon and Amber Silk on his way towards Ash. Once he got close enough, Amber Silk leaps from his shoulder and onto Ash's.

 **"This Is FUN!"** Lil' Ribbon screams excitedly. Her laughs of joy lift Ash's heart as he forgot his fear. In fact, laughter escapes his throat before he even knew it was there!

"Race ya!" he cries out before getting ahead of Taylor. Taylor calls out his reply before chasing Ash across the gym.

Their screams of laughter echo throughout the gym, causing everyone to just stare at them. It wasn't that they hate it; they just haven't seen anyone so comfortable with electricity and electric types in so long. There was just something… peaceful about it.

 ** _Look Out!_** Ash barely had time to notice who exactly called out to him as he noticed more debris falling. Acting on reflexes, Ash manages to dodge most of the falling debris with Amber Silk holding on to dear life! Before he can relax when the worse was over… **_ASH!_**

Two Psybeam attacks knock a massive piece debris from hitting Ash directly, but it nicks his board causing Ash to fly off of it. On instinct, Ash's body curls into itself, wrapping Amber Silk protectively in his arms and chest, before hitting and rolling on the ground.

 ** _'ASH!'_** the collective thoughts of his team etched into his mind. For a moment Ash thought he was back on Route One with those trained Pokémon out to kill him and Amber Silk and a thunderstorm overhead. He soon realizes he isn't there, but can't help the feeling that history is somehow going to repeat itself if he gets up.

 ** _'Ash?'_** a calm mysterious yet curious mind fades in. **_'Ash, it's okay.'_**

 _'I don't want to get up,'_ he thinks as he curls up tighter and whimpers. _'I don't want…'_

 ** _'Don't want what, exactly?'_** the voice asks softly. **_'Don't want to face your fears? Don't want to face the monsters? Don't want to die? Don't want to lose Amber Silk?'_**

While all of those seem true, Ash's body tenses more with Amber Silk. His thoughts though, they break the hearts of his team as they finally realize something they never did before; _'I don't want to see her as a monster! I don't want to see them as monsters! I don't want to be alone again!' **Don't give up until it's over!**_

"Well, well, well," a voice says suddenly and tauntingly. Amber Silk growls from where she's trap in Ash's arms, positioning her body to face the threat. "If it isn't the little brat who thinks he could stand up to us."

The trainer's heavy boots got closer and Ash could almost feel Amber Silk sparking a warning; get closer and I'll shock you. It doesn't seem like the trainer got the message as he just got closer. Meanwhile, Lil Ribbon and Taylor are surrounded by three raichu who are blocking their path to Ash. There seems to be nothing they can do to help Ash at this moment.

"Well, brat?" the man says as he was almost on top of him. He then kicks Ash while asking; "Aren't you going to "stand up" to us?" He kicks Ash again as Amber Silk tries firing one of her electrical attacks. It doesn't seem to be working as he keeps on kicking. "What's the matter, wimp? Are you too scared to face our superior power? Heh, don't worry; you and your pathetic Pokémon would be exterminated soon."

 ** _Don't give up until it's over!_** Ash catches the gym leader's foot as it came down again with one, shaky hand. He glares his currently blue eyes at the trainer before pulling him to the ground. Before the gym leader could react, Ash scoops Amber Silk up and twist-kick the trainer.

 _'Go help the other two,'_ Ash commands through his and Amber Silk's link. _'I'll keep him distracted until you're either done with them or you need me. Got it?'_

Amber Silk says nothing as she looks back at him. She then gives a nod before heading out. Ash turns his attention back to the bully.

"You… you'll pay for that, brat!" the bully says as he stands up. He charges at Ash, only to miss and get punched in the face, hard.

Ash doesn't know his eyes are blue, nor the aura gathering into his hands. He doesn't know he's shaking or anything other than how much he hates this bully. And he is going to make sure he knew.

 **"Attacking A Challenger, A Disabled Challenger, Is A Serious Offence,"** Dexter beeps suddenly, stopping the fist fight from escalading farther and interrupting Ash's thoughts of revenge. **"It Would Be Better To Defeat The Challenger In A Pokémon Battle."**

"Fine," the bully spat. "We'll do this the "proper" way. But you will pay. Raichu! Front and center!"

"Lil Ribbon, Amber Silk, Taylor, assemble," Ash says just as those raichu went to their master's side of the field. Ash cringes as he realizes they may not know what he means. They are wild Pokémon after all, even though Lil' Ribbon hangs around Misty all the time and Amber Silk is his starter.

"This is a riot! "You are actually using a useless baby, a weakling and a mutant in this battle! And here I thought you might have been joking," the bully laughs. Ash growls at the man but does nothing. The man gave a smirk at Ash. "My team is a powerhouse, the best there is. There's no way anyone can defeat me; there is nothing better than pure strength."

"I'm sure Lieutenant Surge is really happy with all of this," Ash says sarcastically. "I mean, with how all electric types are bullies except for a baby, a weakling and a mutant! Heck, I'm certain both Yellow and even Red would be proud of you, picking on the weak to be strong."

"You know nothing," the so-called Gym Leader growls. Ash's team manages to make it to their places without much guidance. "This will be a triple battle. There will be no switching out and the winner is decided when all three Pokémon from either side is unable to battle.

"Let's begin. Raichu, Attack!"

Ash didn't have time to shout before the three raichu launched their electrical attacks. He barely registers when the electrical attacks got absorbed by Amber Silk. All his mind could say is "panic!" and he's not sure he can ignore it this time.

Amber Silk knew, just knew without looking, that Ash is having a panic attack. Normally she would be by his side, pouring her soul into his to let him know he's safe.

Obviously she can't do that now. But there is something she can do.

 **"Lil' Ribbon, Taylor, listen up,"** she says. **"Ash can't command us at the moment, but we can't let that stop us."**

 **"What do we do?"** Lil' Ribbon asks while trying to avoid the raichu. **"You can't keep absorbing electricity for long; you've been doing that this whole time!"**

 **"I know,"** Amber Silk says as she quickly runs past one of the raichu. **"But there isn't much else we could do until Ash calms down."**

 **"No worries, Sisters,"** Taylor says casually as he danced out of the lead's raichu's way. **"I'm sure he'll pull through; he hasn't let us down yet."**

 **"I hope you're right,"** Lil' Ribbon says before she darts right under her opponent, who happened to be so focused on her he fell right onto his back trying to get her.

Meanwhile Ash stood frozen with his eyes widen in terror. His body is shaking, his heart is racing and his breathing is quick and short. The fear he fought all throughout this gym challenge bubbles throughout his mind, causing him to stop thinking.

He's surrounded by monsters! He's under attack by the thunder storm! He has to run! He has to hide! Why can't he move?!

He can't hear Dexter beeping at him in his monotone voice. He can't hear the thoughts of his team as they try to reach him. He can't even hear the thoughts of the mysterious bubbly voice from before! And he had always heard that one.

His legs give out beneath him. He curls up into a ball and covers his head, hoping the monsters would just leave! **_Don't Give Up Until It's Over!_**

 ** _Use Your Pokémon Strengths To Turn This Around!_**

"Mom?" Suddenly the fear froze in place. Ash could have sworn his mother was nearby. And yet he couldn't figure out where she might be.

But he can _feel_ the audience cheering. No, that's not quite right. They're not cheering with applause or laughing at him. They're…

 _'They're cheering us on,'_ his mind supplies as he hears the rhythmic thumping of feet and clapping of hands. Their voices aren't one of malic or of pleasure; they're one of support, giving him strength, oddly enough.

But more importantly than that; his thoughts have cleared. The pieces of the puzzle fell into place quickly once the fog of panic cleared. Another memory echoes just on the edge of conscious yet Ash already knew what to do.

 _"Lil' Ribbon; Charm your way out with a Sweet Kiss and don't be afraid to Play Rough!"_ Ash commands, hoping she'll understand his order. The mischievousness in her eyes tells him all he needs to know. _"Amber Silk; show them your Agility, and make sure you do a Quick Attack!"_ he said the last part as though it was separate, yet he knew she understands. _"Taylor; Surf's Up!"_

His team reacted quickly to his order as they did as they're told. Lil' Ribbon plays her age well, bringing the guard down on her opponent before fiercely attacking him. She even got him attracted to her.

"What are you doing? Snap out of it!" the so-called-Gym Leader orders. But his words weren't enough to break that spell.

Meanwhile Amber Silk and Taylor went in circles around their opponents, literally! The raichu were all having trouble keeping up with their speed. It got to the point they got dizzy and nearly fell down and attack each other! The one fighting Lil Ribbon did attack them.

 _"Get, now let's Double Team,"_ Ash says. Immediately all three began to duplicate and those duplicated moved all over the place, making it hard to find the correct one on a good day! And this isn't a good day in more ways than one.

"Oh, Come ON!" the so-called Gym Leader yells in frustration. The guy starts muttering something angrily though it's hard to make out what he's saying. "You know what; screw it! Hyper Beam the whole place!"

The three raichu obeyed, much to the terror of Ash and his team. Even worse, there doesn't seem to be a pattern to their attacks! One by one the duplicates get caught up in these wild beams and Ash even had to move out of the way of some of those beams at times!

And Ash realizes something startling; their wait time to charge is low! This means that they don't have much of an opportunity to counter attack after each beam!

Electricity crackles under his footing. Looking down, Ash can see the regular floor beneath him. It takes only a moment to realize their Electric Terrain is fading away. A moment longer to realize what that means; the floor would soon be electrified, causing his team to overload with electricity!

The hairs on the back of his neck stand on end. Ash doesn't waist a moment to jump forward and roll. Right where he was a part of the ceiling lands with a loud crash! Ash doesn't even give it a moment's thought, knowing he doesn't have time to focus on that.

 _'But what can I do?'_ his mind asks as he watches the battle. The three raichu are still firing their Hyper Beam everywhere, debris is falling all around, the Electric Terrain is almost gone and Lil' Ribbon is beginning to freak out!

Oh, and the rest of his team, the one distracting the gym Pokémon and not in the actual fight, are busy with distracting the gym Pokémon and fighting falling debris, making sure it doesn't hit the gym trainers and their Pokémon. **_Don't give up until it's over!_**

 _'There has to be something…'_ his thoughts start before freezing up again. Amber Silk is full of electricity, it almost seems like she'll explode soon! And yet she seems to almost be levitating off the ground while still moving fast, avoiding the falling debris. _'That's it!'_

 _"Let's Raise the field! Make it our Terrain! And stand your Ground!"_ Ash commands. He doesn't know how as he isn't connected to them in their usual ways, but the team seems to understand what he's asking. They charge their electricity around their bodies, in an electrical bubble or something.

"Even if you manage to pull off another Electric Terrain, it won't do you any good," the so-called gym leader says with a laugh. "My raichu are already powerhouse; it'll just make them stronger."

He didn't notice Amber Silk's electric bubble being a bit different than the rest of her team. Then again, all three of them are different so it probably wasn't noticeable.

Suddenly the three scream in preparation of an attack just right before their electric bubble explodes, expands or pop, which ever word you'd like to use to describe what happened. Point is the electric bubbles covered the whole gym, much like before.

What wasn't like before is the feeling of weightlessness, the debris and anything no connected to the floor rising in the air and the audience screaming in fright. The Hyper Beam attack stopped as the raichu tries grabbing onto anything to stay on the floor.

Ash and his team weren't screaming in fear or trying to stay on the ground. His Pokémon, while also affected by it, started using it to their advantage. It helped that Silk Ryder help regulate gravity for his teammates, with Taylor doing the same for his team.

"What is this? What did you do?" the current gym leader asks in both fear and in rage. "This is against the rules! You are disqualified!"

 **"So Is Using An Attack To Purposely Destroy Your Gym And Everyone In It,"** Dexter beeps. Ash can't shake the feeling that Dexter is mad.

"It's not my fault my Pokémon have a hard time aiming!" the current gym leader argues.

 **"It Is Your Responsibility As A Gym Leader To Lead And Set A Good Example To Not Just Your Gym Grynts, But Also To The Twon Or City The Gym Resides In,"** Dexter interrupts. He had somehow turned up his computer volume to be loud enough to hear even at the far side of the gym.

"This Puts My Team At A Disadvantage!" the current gym leader argues. Ash rolls his eyes but didn't say anything.

 **"You're Whole Gym Put Challengers At A Disadvantage,"** Dexter beeps calmly.

"It's The Job Of Gym Leaders To Challenge The Adaptability Of Our Challengers!" the gym leader argues back, losing what is left of his temper.

 **"Adapting To Changes In A Battle; The Gym Leader Has To Overcome The Challenge Of The Battle Just As Much As The Challenger. I See No Difference,"** Dexter beeps.

"YOU ARE JUST A STUPID COMPUTER!" the gym leader yells. "OH COUSRE YOU DON'T SEE A DIFFERENCE!" Ash silence Dexter before the computer mentions anything about him arguing _with_ said computer.

Amber Silk gave a battle-like cry before adjusting the magnetic-like field. No longer where the Pokémon and humans floating in the air. Now they're touching the floor, though their center of gravity is off, like they're on the moon or something.

 _'Well, at least they're not going to explode,'_ Ash thinks as he looks at the scan he did of his team. The scans show that while their electricity is still dangerously high, it isn't anywhere near the levels they were before. _'Creating this environment must have taken a lot of electricity to make.'_

"Raichu! Blast them with Hyper Beam!" the trainer commands.

 _'Evasive maneuvers, everyone!'_ Ash thinks to his team and Pokémon. _'Make sure those Hyper Beams don't get to anyone.'_

The Pokémon all got into place just as the raichu all finished charging up their attacks. While the attack missed, it was cancel early do to the fact the raichu weren't expecting one thing; the force of their attacks launching them back.

 **"Under Normal Circumstances; That's A Ring-Out,"** Dexter beeps just loud enough for only Ash to hear. **"According To Their Rules That I Have Figured Out; If It Gives Them The Advantage, It's Allowed, If It Gives Them A Disadvantage, It's Not Allowed. Therefore This Isn't A Ring-Out."**

"But if any of my team fell out of the same boundaries, It's a ring-out," Ash mutters angrily, frustrated by the fact that if he does anything, they'll see it as against the rules and disqualify them. Of course he never really wanted to win; just prove they aren't playing fair.

"Get up! Don't let those pests win!" the bully orders. His raichu, all three of them, stood back up and went to attack with their electrical attacks, since they didn't know how to move in low-gravity.

"Play to your strengths!" Ash orders before his mind could register the electrical attacks. He felt their acknowledgement more than heard it over his beating heart and sharp breaths. Continuing to fight the panic growing inside him down, Ash takes a look at his surroundings.

He knows he has to keep moving. So far the gym hasn't really given time for him to rest, and he doesn't expect it to start now.

The last thing he wants is for his parents to see him in a hospital bed again. **_Don't give up until it's over!_**

Getting on his board and ignoring his exhaustion, Ash channels what remains of his aura into it and uses it to ride on the electrical waves. It's an odd feeling to fly around on static, and to fly upside down on one of the debris, yet Ash can't remember when the last time he had fun around electric types.

It's a good thing he moved for one of the gym's Pokémon had launched an attack that blew up the spot he was just in. No telling what might have happen if Ash stayed, except he probably wouldn't have survived.

Lil' Ribbon has charmed a raichu, getting his attention fully on her and not to attack either. She's using her electrical powers to create a ribbon and dance with it. Her dancing could use work [she has the grace of a daisy in a tornado], but the raichu is still in a trance to her beauty. The referee secretly called this raichu "unable to battle" do to his attraction towards the baby Pokémon.

Amber Silk is using her speed and the battle field to her advantage. The raichu is slower than her and has a hard time predicting where she's heading. Running fast through the debris, using them like little planets and platforms and flying through the air thanks to the low gravity makes her harder to catch.

She knows the raichu is getting frustrated and she's hoping this frustration can work in her favor. Because as long as he has energy, has power, she can't face him head on.

Taylor doesn't really care about his opponent at the moment. He's trying to take this rare opportunity of surfing through this odd battlefield.

Like Ash he's using his tail-board to surf through the field. Like Lil' Ribbon he's dancing to the electrical waves. Like Amber Silk, he's running circles around his opponent.

But more importantly, he's having fun.

There are only four things he likes; tailoring, eating sweets, surfing and dancing. He has forgotten that battles can have their own excitement, but that's probably because he never fought with a team before or with a trainer.

Using his psychic powers to reflect the Thunder aimed at him, Taylor muses that he probably should deal with this disgrace of an electric Pokémon. While he'd rather deal with the trainer in charge, he knew it'll hurt Ash, and the last thing he wants is to hurt his "little brother".

As this is going on, Ash manages to get close enough to the current gym leader before the person even realizes he's there. A part of him thought that maybe he should have stayed in the trainer's box, but it had been blown up by the gym's Pokémon so…

Okay, he's not going to try to figure out how they think. It's obvious they're making this up as they go! Or they're trying too hard to stay in control… Either way they change the rules to stay on top!

"Come on Raichu!" the trainer yells. "Fight Back! Show Them What True Power Feels Like!"

As he said this, Taylor caught his opponent in his psychic powers and violently launched him clear across the room. Lil' Ribbon's raichu barely dodge in time, looking between the destroyed wall and the strange raichu that caused it. He dramatically fell down in defeat, officially ending his "battle", much to his trainer's frustration.

"How Could You Loss To Those Freaks, You Pathetic Excuse Of A Pokémon?" the trainer demands. As he said this, the last remaining raichu, the strongest, decide to go after Lil' Ribbon instead as she's an easier target. However Taylor manages to pick her up and get out of the way.

Before he could do anything, a feeling of static coming in from his left caused him to move away. He gave a smirk as he watches the freak miss him. The smirk froze on his face when he realized the platform, a piece of the ceiling, floating right behind him; with her sparking dangerously and aimed right at him!

Before he could even blink, she is surrounded by her electricity and pushes off the platform at alarming speed. He didn't even have time to prepare for the impact, let alone a counter attack, and the next thing he knows he's flying. It doesn't last long before he hit a wall and then the floor.

"All three raichu are unable to battle," the referee says professionally. "The winner of this challenge is Ashura Ketchum!"

The stands erupt in cheers. Silk Ryder is busy grabbing everyone he can, mainly the gym trainers and their Pokémon, and moving them out of danger; the whole gym looks ready to fall apart.

Lil' Ribbon and Taylor cheer from where they are. Ash gave a relief smile to his starter as she turn to face him with a smile of her own.

That smile turn into horror as she looks behind him. The raichu she sent across the room as gotten up, and with a nod from his trainer cloaks his body with his electricity and charges at him! Amber Silk could only watch as the raichu races towards her partner.

Ash saw the fear in her eyes, the nod from the trainer and the crackle of electricity behind him. He turns around, raising his arms in defense and bringing what is left of his aura to create a shield. He felt an orange blur racing past him as he blinks

And is startled awake by a beeping sound.

 **"Easy there, Ash,"** a familiar voice says. His eyes lock on the red eyes of the voice. The familiar black mask and blue face calms his nerves down.

"Lucario? What happened?" Ash asks as he looks around. His whole body is protesting to even the slightest movement. He's in a hospital room, hooked up to some machines, the same ones that woke him up.

 **"You used all of you aura in that battle"** Lucario says simply, trying not to accuse him of doing anything wrong. **"You Pokémon explained to us why you did what you did, but please don't put yourself in harms way again. Especially with something you're deathly terrified of."**

"My Team? Are the alright?" Ash asks as panic starts creeping in. Lucario put one of his paws on his shoulder to calm him, and it works.

 **"They're fine,"** he says softly. **"They are worried for you. I can let them know you're awake…"**

"Don't leave," Ash says quickly, fear creeping in. "I don't want to be alone again."

 **"I won't,"** he promise. Ash closes his eyes, knowing everything is fine. Sleep soon overtook him as his body relaxes to the rhythmic beeping of the machines.

* * *

 **AN; Okay, so it's a bit confusing. I fought this chapter, alright! I knew what I wanted yet as I kept writing things kept popping up and I had a hard time keeping some of the things I want. I'm sorry it's confusing.**

 **It was always going to be an obstacle course. There was always going to have a moment with Taylor and Ash zipping down a line. It was always going to have a three-on-three battle with the Pokemon playing to their strengths. It was always going to have floating debris. It was always going to end with Amber Silk missing the main raichu only to land on one of the floating debris and attacking. It was always going to have Ash being attacked by the raichu. It always had something running to protect Ash when Amber Silk couldn't. It was always going to have that moment when Ash wakes up in the hospital room after blinking, only to realize he didn't blink.**

 **Everything else just came as I wrote.**

 **Whew. That felt good. Anyway I hope you enjoyed this. Please leave a review if you can.**


	6. Vermilion's Shocking Showdown Aftermath1

_**Disclaimer; While I do have some of the games, I don't own the rights to Pokemon.**_

 **AN; ...I still feel like no one likes this story... Oh, well. Still not going to say what Pokemon is what until someone makes a guess. There should be enough clues in this chapter for two of the Pokemon.**

 **Before I forget, I dropped the accent I had for Lieutenant Surge. Mainly because I forgot he had one, then I just didn't want to do it... and it felt better not doing it here.**

 **This chapter focuses on Ash and Lieutenant Surge. It's written in third person, but it does switch who is the main focus.**

 **I may have misspelled some Pokemon's name... In my defense I don't have a portable Pokedex with me, nor do I have ALL Pokemon names memorized and I didn't have internet access at the time I wrote it.**

* * *

The first thing Ash notice when his mind started gaining conscious is warmth energy surrounding him. As his mind wakes up more, he's able to pick up the subtle differences in the energy. A moment later and he can identify each of his Poké Pals and where they are.

Skye Grace is perched just above his head. Pincher is under his bed, for some reason. Silk Ryder is resting right on his head, he just notices. Fire Heart, Forest Warden and Fire Marshal are resting on his feet… and next to each other. That's odd since they could barely get along.

Movement on his chest brought his mind to focus on the energy there. Amber Silk and Lil' Ribbon are sleeping soundly on his chest. Taylor has his body wrapped around him protectively. And Lucario is sitting in the chair next to him.

Four more energies, aura, came into the room. Three of them are Pokémon of the same species and somehow familiar. But it's the human they came in with that has Ash's attention.

"Any changes?" the human asks as he and the Pokémon with him approach the bed. The semi-asleep Pokémon surrounding Ash looks up at them and went into a protective stance. However the movement broke the aura healing Ash, something the boy hadn't noticed until it stopped, and causes him to silently moan in pain.

 **"He's conscious though his body is still mostly asleep,"** Lucario says, pouring his aura through the boy while the Pokémon figure out if these newcomers are a threat or not.

"How's that possible?" the man asks, causing the fighting type to sigh.

 **"He went through a lot and his body is doing what it can to heal,"** Lucario says with a sigh. **_"_** **It shouldn't be more than a couple of minutes, unless he falls back to sleep."**

"M'make," Ash mutters, trying really hard to respond. Honestly it feels like his whole body is made of jelly and cement, plus it still aches pretty badly.

"The kid lives," the man says as a way to lighten the mood. The Pokémon around them just groan in response.

 **"I advise you to take it easy, Ash,"** Lucario says sternly. **"You have been through a lot and both your body and mind need to heal from it."**

"Mkay," Ash mumbles though he didn't try to go back to sleep. Instead he forces himself to sit upright a bit and maybe pet the Pokémon on his stomach. He let their aura flow through him comfortably before trying to focus on the stranger. "Who you?"

 **"What He Means To Say Is; Who Are You?"** the familiar beeps of Dexter, causing Ash's adrenaline to wake him up fully.

"Dexter?" Ash calls out, trying to find him. Of course his sudden movement causes all of his Pokémon to protest quite loudly, but he pays them no mind. "Dexter? Are you alright? Where are you?"

 **"Ash, you need to calm down,"** Lucario says gently while putting one of his paws on one of Ash's shoulders in an attempt to calm the boy down.

"They were going to kill Dexter!" Ash cries out, stunning the fighting type into silence.

 **"I Am Fine, Ash,"** Dexter beeps in an almost calming way, though it's hard to tell since its still monotone. **"I Am A Specially Design AI That Is More… Alive Is Not The Right Word But Is The Closest Explanation You Can Understand. A Powerful Electromagnet Cannot Erase Me Easily, Though, I'll Admit, It Doesn't Help."**

As Dexter was busy explaining, Silk Ryder uses his psychic powers to lift the Pokédex off the nightstand next to Ash's bed and dropped it on Ash. Ash wastes no time to pick up the Pokédex and look it over. He doesn't know much about computers, but his whole body relaxes when he could see nothing wrong with it.

"Thank Arceus," Ash sighs in relief. "I was so worried."

 ** _So Were We,_** the collective voice of the Pokémon in the room says as one.

Ash looks down, not really looking at anything. Now that he had been through all of that, though he honestly doesn't remember much except danger and anger with a hint of fun, he realize just how stupid he was in doing it! Yet he can't bring himself to apologize; he doesn't regret trying to stand up for the other victims.

He does wish he had thought of a better way… one that didn't involve nearly getting killed.

"Hey, do look so down," the man says kind of loudly. While Ash didn't look up, he got the feeling his Pokémon are sending daggers to the man for being so loud. In a much quieter voice, he says "It all worked out in the end. Don't beat yourself up over it."

"But I could have done it differently!" Ash protests finally looking at the man. The man is naturally intimidating with his tall stature and huge muscles. His blond hair is styled clean yet spiked, something that kind of reminds Ash of the military.

It was seeing the raichu, the same one from earlier at the gym, did it clicked. "I should have called you, Lieutenant Surge."

"Okay, first off; you didn't have my number," Lieutenant Surge says seriously and in a way that causes Ash to be quiet and let the man talk. "The only way you could have gotten in contact with me is through your parents and I know your father would have flipped out if he had known you were hanging around Pokémon, let alone electric types."

He petted Amber Silk when he said that, letting Ash know just what he's talking about.

"Secondly; you weren't given much of a choice," he says firmly.

"But…" Ash starts.

"No talking, just listen," Lieutenant Surge all but orders Ash. Once he knows Ash isn't going to try to protest soon, he explains. "I heard what they did to not only their victims, but also to the Nurse Joy in charge. You were just trying to protect them.

"Now let me finish," he says when he notice someone was going to protest against this. "They were using their titles to bully others. You tried to put them in their place yet it didn't work. And while you could have called up the others, and you probably should have, it would have given them enough time to cover their tracks."

"I still shouldn't have challenged the gym," Ash says, trying to hold his starter close. Amber Silk just rubs her head against his chin, in an attempt to cheer him up. "I shouldn't have… I could have done things better."

"Should you have taken the gym challenge knowing your fear of electric types and of the "chu clan" as well as suspecting they played dirty? No you shouldn't have, but we already acknowledged that," Lieutenant Surge says firmly. "Could you have done something different? Yes, but that doesn't mean it would have been better, nor does it mean it would have been worse.

"What I'm trying to say is; stop thinking of what you could have done different, what you _should_ have done different, if it's not helping anyone," Lieutenant Surge says with a sigh. "What happen has happen and you know you won't make that same mistake again, so unless you want to find a Pokémon that can grant you the wish to change what you did or to go back in time to stop yourself from doing what you did, and keep in mind it might not work out better, stop dwelling on the past and move pass this."

"But I worried Mom, and everyone else," Ash says weakly. The tears in his eyes refuse to come out even though he _really_ wanted to cry at this moment.

"Yeah you did," Lieutenant Surge agrees with a gentle voice. Ash looks up to see his eyes are soft and caring, something that is pretty rare for him to do. "But like I said; it already happened, everyone is fine and all you can do is move on.

"How about we talk about something else?" Lieutenant Surge suggests before Ash could try protesting his words. "I'm curious how you can across this Alolan Raichu."

"Alolan Raichu?" Ash asks, looking at said raichu who is acting as Ash's backboard, keeping the boy upright.

"Certain Pokémon adapt to wherever they happen to find themselves after many generations," Lieutenant Surge explains. "Alolan Raichu comes from the Alola Region. I can give you a map or a booklet if you're interested."

"So that's why he's so different? Because he isn't from here?" Ash asks looking between Taylor and the three raichu. At Lieutenant Surge's nod he asks, "How do you know that?"

"That's where I was from," Lieutenant Surge says with a fond smile. "It's a wonderful place. You should go there and visit sometime. It's a great vacation spot and I can assure you, you and you're Pokémon would have a wonderful time."

"But _why_ are Alolan Raichu different from any other raichu?" Ash asks, still looking lost.

"No one really knows," the soldier admits. "I didn't know why they called them Alolan Raichu until I saw what a raichu is "supposed" to look. It's a bit of a surprise for me to learn they weren't psychic types."

 **"It's best not to think about it at the moment,"** Lucario says gently. **"Focus on your recovery now, then when you are well you can start looking into all of these mysteries."**

"I guess," Ash says, obviously disappointed. A yawn escapes his mouth before he even realize it was there. "Sleep does sound good right now."

"Before you do, I got a couple of questions to asks, as well as something I'd like you to have," Lieutenant Surge says. "My first question is this; what makes this beauty different from the rest, aside from the obvious of course."

"What?" Ash asks before looking at Amber Silk. He looks at her amber color fur, her black tip ears and brown at the base of her tail that look like thunder clouds releasing lightning, the duel lightning shape brown strips on her back and black heart on the tip of her tail, as he tries understanding Lieutenant Surge's question. "Well, she loves dressing up, and can change her attacks to match the outfit…"

"That's not what I mean," Lieutenant Surge interrupts gently. Seeing how confuse Ash is brought a soft some to his lips. "I mean, why aren't you afraid of her? Why is she so special to you?"

Ash stays quiet as he thinks of the answer. In all honesty he's been trying to figure that out since he met her, since he first laid eyes on her.

He knows it wasn't because she was trying to look like Professor Oak that first day, agreeing to help them pretend it was an experiment gone wrong. Lucario had mentioned once that their auras were a match, but he doubts that is what drew him to her so closely.

When she looks into his eyes, all he could see was a soul struggling to live, struggling to find something worth living, just as he is. Every time he looks in her eyes he can see a soul hurting and struggling and trying so hard to be happy but has this small fear that it would just disappear. And every time he looks into her eyes, he can see the love she has for him, despite that fear, and a certain understanding that he can't quiet figure out.

"She just is," Ash finally says, still unsure. "I'm sorry I don't have a better answer, I just don't know… and, I don't think I _want_ to know. Just that she's special to me, and I love her, even when I'm afraid of her."

Lieutenant Surge seems happy with that answer, even though Ash isn't. Amber Silk wasted no time into showing Ash just how happy he makes her feel by rubbing her head against his and giving kisses as well. Ash laughs, trying to get her to stop though not really trying, happy that she's happy.

"Are you afraid of her?" Lieutenant Surge asks softly. Seeing the guilt in Ash's eyes gave him the answer he needed. "Hey, it's alright."

"No it's not!" Ash yells as the tears finally starts flowing. It startles the Pokémon but Ash pays then no mind as he tries to get Amber Silk closer. "I shouldn't be afraid of her, she has done nothing wrong!"

"You have been through a traumatizing experience," Lieutenant Surge says firmly, though not unkindly. His eyes trail to the door, but he gave a firm shake of his head and focused on Ash. "It would have been worrisome if you weren't afraid of _something_ after that."

"She's Not A Monster!" Ash yells, scaring the Pokémon more. Amber Silk is trying to calm him down but it doesn't seem to be working. "She was just trying to protect me!"

"No one who ever truly cared ever said…" the soldier tries saying but was interrupted by Ash.

"She was just trying to protect me from those bullies who were trying to kill her!" Ash nearly screams. He's in a full blown panic attack and Lieutenant Surge isn't sure what to do. "I didn't want her hurt, but they wanted to kill her! She was just trying to protect me!"

"Greyson Ashwood! Look At Me!" Lieutenant Surge orders as he puts his hands on Ash's shoulders. He knows the Pokémon might see this as a threat, but his main concern is on the boy. Once he got Ash's eyes locked onto his, he firmly and calmly says, "Take a deep breath, then tell me exactly what it is you're afraid of."

It wasn't one deep breath Ash took, it was a couple. But his breathing went back to normal and his mind stopped freezing up on him in fear. It did make him tired, but he was tired before this outburst.

Tears flow freely as he leans into Lieutenant Surge's chest, not caring if the man cares or not. The man held him and rubs his shoulder, doing his best to calm the child down. After what felt like an eternity, the child calms down enough that Lieutenant Surge was certain he fell back to sleep.

"These trainers attacked Amber Silk on our way to Viridian City," Ash says suddenly, causing Lieutenant Surge to slow down what he was doing before resuming. If Ash noticed, he didn't make a comment on it. "Gary, Charlie and I were having a lunch break while Amber Silk and Eve, Gary's eevee, were playing nearby with the local Pokémon.

"We heard Amber Silk crying out in pain and saw these people with their Pokémon out trying to kill her. Charlie tried stopping them but they wouldn't listen," Ash says while trying to keep a normal breathing pattern. "Amber Silk and I ran off, trying to lose them. But they chased us and Amber Silk collapsed and I had to carry her.

"We were cornered by a cliff and I jumped off because they were going to kill her if they caught up and I wanted to protect her," Ash says before taking another deep breath. "Even though we lost them, Amber Silk wasn't doing too well and then a thunderstorm came and I…"

Lieutenant Surge felt his body tense. Ash hadn't been good with thunderstorms since that incident. He could only imagine the terror the boy went through.

"They found us," Ash says suddenly, bringing Lieutenant Surge out of his thoughts. "They wanted to kill her and even though she hates Pokéballs, I left one for her so she can be safe. If she wasn't wild then maybe those monsters would leave her alone.

"They were going to kill her and they were going to hurt me to do so," Ash admits, causing the soldiers blood to boil. How dare they threaten the life of a child! "I was going to fight back, but Amber Silk run into my shoulder before launching herself. She gathered the energy from the storm and blasted the whole area before I even knew what was happening!"

Ash shuffles a bit. It takes Lieutenant Surge a moment to realize he's pulling something out form his shirt.

"When I woke up, I saw her eyes looking back at me," Ash says. "I forgot the monster she became to protect me when I saw how happy she was to see me alright. Then we heard something and looked up to see this bird flying through the rainbow. Dexter didn't know what it was, but we kept this feather and pouch in case someone can recognize it."

Lieutenant Surge looks at the items in question, yet he can't identify what they might be. The feather is unique enough as it changes colors depending where the light shines. The content in the pouch just looks like ash you can get anywhere.

"I got Amber Silk to the Pokémon Center as fast as I could, but because she's wild and I wasn't a trainer, they wanted to put her down," Ash says while trying to get her closer. "If Misty wasn't there to give her account of what happened, or if they hadn't look into Dexter to see what he recorded, then there was nothing I could have done to save her!

"They wanted to kill her, Lieutenant!" Ash all but screams. "All because she was an electric type and wild and because those MONSTERS claimed she attacked them when she was just trying to defend ME!"

Ash starts crying again and Lieutenant Surge just lets him. He didn't know what happened until now, just that Ash chose that Pokémon, a wild one, to be his Poké partner as they went to pick up Professor Oak's parcel. And seeing how much it hurts Ash that she was treated as the monster when she was just trying to protect him…

"You're okay, kid," he says as comfortably as he could. The Pokémon are all trying to bring comfort to the boy in the best way they could.

It surprises him to know all of these Pokémon are wild, and yet how gentle they are with Ash. By all accounts they should have attacked with the ruckus they did. And yet they didn't and are even trying to calm the boy.

"You are a strange one, Ash," Lieutenant Surge says with a chuckle. "That reminds me; I want you to have something, if you feel up to it."

"Not at the moment," Ash says sleepily. After a moment of silence, Ash spoke up. "Did you see the video of Silk Ryder evolving? It happened when we were in Rota."

"What where you doing in Rota?" Lieutenant Surge asks, a bit surprised.

"Um… I got us lost," Ash says. "And we were low on money and supplies… and there was a tournament and they allowed Misty as my stand-in if I couldn't handle it…"

"He did pretty well," Misty says as she walks up. "You should watch the tapes. It just as impressive as the gym battle, though not as hectic."

"I thought you were supposed to wait outside," Lieutenant Surge says glaring at the group who just came in.

"As Ash's mother, I think I've waited long enough!" Delia says sharply before getting Ash into her arms. "Thank you for taking care of him."

"Me or the Pokémon?" Lieutenant Surge asks. "Cause they did most of the caring."

"All of you," Delia says with a huff. However there is a smile on her face so she wasn't too mad.

"So what did you get Ash?" a voice Ash recognizes but was too tired to care. With everyone talking, Ash finally gave into sleep. He knows he's safe now.

* * *

Ash wakes up to a dark room and a lot of snoring. While his body still feels terrible, he doesn't feel as bad anymore and can move more freely. He decides against getting up, only because he can see Lil Ribbon snuggled against his chest.

While it's a cute sight, the small hint of fear crept in causing his breathing to be quick, sharp and fast. He pushes that down as much as he could and tries to relax.

 **"Ash?"** Lucario's voice quietly asks. Ash looks over to where the voice came from and sees the Pokémon near the door of his hospital room. **"What are you doing up?"**

"I just woke up," Ash says quietly with a shrug. He uses what aura he has to identify where everyone is in the room. Skye Grace is on the headboard asleep, Silk Ryder is sound asleep on his head, Fire Marshal, Fire Heart and Forest Warden are sleeping on his legs and each other, Pincher is sleeping under the bed, Dexter is back on the nightstand, Lil Ribbon and Amber Silk are sleeping on his chest, Mirage is acting as a Pokédoll that he's holding and he's using Taylor as a pillow… It feels nice and he's trying not to think about it. "Where's everyone else?"

"Trying to sleep," Lieutenant Surge says from the door while Lucario move towards Ash. Lieutenant Surge also moves away from the door and closer to Ash. "We've been taking turns watching over you since you fell back asleep. But it's two in the morning and I have no desire waking anyone up until my "shift" is over.

"Which is great because there is something I wanted to give you," the soldier says as he took a seat next to the bed.

Ash sits up the best he could without disturbing his Pokémon. He holds out his hand and lets Lieutenant Surge put something small into it. He wasn't expecting what it could be when he opened them.

"What?" the boy asks as though he doesn't know what it is he's holding.

"It's a special one," Lieutenant Surge says with a proud smile. "I don't just give it out to just anyone."

"I don't get it…" Ash says as he looks the item over.

"You did defeat my gym," the soldier says while folding his arms. "And you helped uncover the main problem with it."

"But you weren't the gym leader," Ash says quietly, still looking at the item in his hand.

"You beat the acting gym leader, then. It still counts," Lieutenant Surge says before leaning forward. "What's wrong? Why are you so hesitant with it?"

"I'm not a trainer," Ash answers honestly, causing the man to laugh. The laughter startles the Pokémon awake, but they quickly rested their heads when they notice it wasn't a threat.

"Look around you, kid," the soldier says with a laugh. "You see the Pokémon around you?"

Ash gives a nod but is confused as to what he's getting at.

"You see how they are with you?" Lieutenant Surge asks calmly. "Most, if not all, trainers can't get the trust from their Pokémon as you can, wild and tamed alike."

"But my Dad…" Ash protests.

"Spent many years with his team before they trust him on the level they are now," Lieutenant Surge calmly interrupts. "Even with me and Sargent it took a long time and a war before we got as close as we are now."

 **"Even back when I served the crown, Pokémon and humans did not have the tight bond you have with you partners,"** Lucario says gently. **"And just like your other two badges, this represent not the battles you've won but the teamwork and trust you and your Pokémon have for each other. Do not forget that."**

Ash says nothing, just looking at the badge. In all honesty he doesn't know how to feel about this. On the one hand it's great, but he isn't sure if they really earned it.

 ** _'How could you have not earned it?'_** Mirage's playful thoughts ask gently.

 _'It wasn't with Pokémon I've caught and trained,'_ is his answer, though almost as soon as he thought it he knew it was shallow. _'And they could have just taken pity on me. Me being disabled makes people feel sorry for me and would do anything to make me comfortable and happy. Maybe they think this will too, or my parents pulled strings.'_

 ** _'Oh, that,'_** Mirage's thoughts bubble through. **_'Yeah, I can see why people would think you haven't earned it; if they knew who your parents are. But you're trying really hard NOT to use that, aren't you?'_**

 _'Yeah, but…'_ Ash thinks before stopping his thoughts. He doesn't want Mirage or anyone else to know, but Lieutenant Surge already knew who he was, even before this.

 ** _'Does the lieutenant play favorites or gives into demand?'_** Mirage's mysterious voice asks gently. The simple answer is; he doesn't. He has gotten into a lot of trouble because he's so strict with his rules.

"Lieutenant?" Ash spoke up.

"What is it?" Lieutenant Surge asks almost worried. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine, I just have a question," Ash says almost dismissively.

"If it's about the authenticity of the badge," Lieutenant Surge starts.

"No," Ash says, interrupting the soldier. "Well, kind of but not really."

"Then what is it?" the soldier asks.

"I just want to know what you would have done different if I fought you instead," Ash says while looking anywhere else but at the man.

"Well, for starters the gym itself wouldn't have been booby-trapped," Lieutenant Surge says easily before going into deep thought. "Well, I would have either skipped the obstacle course, turn it down enough for it to not be a problem or let you use your Pokémon to ride and aid you as well as have a human companion. Of course the Pokémon you choose to aid you wouldn't have been the Pokémon to fight me and my team.

"As for the team," he says before Ash could get a word in, "I probably ask to borrow certain Pokémon, since I know of you fears."

"Which Pokémon?" Ash asks with interest. "And from where?"

"For starters; Cerulean City to see if they had a Chinchou," the soldier says.

"A Chinchou?" Ash asks.

"It's a duel water and electric type," Lieutenant Surge explains. "I would have gotten duel electric types and try not to use electric moves for our battle."

"What other duel types are there?" Ash asks with interest. "What sort of Pokémon would you have used?"

Lieutenant Surge laughs, clearly amused with this. "Well, it might take a while to figure out the best Pokémon to fight you, but let's keep this simple; Chinchou, Magneton and, if you're okay with it, Raichu."

"Magneton and Raichu? Why those?" Ash asks while looking at Sargent.

"Not many people in Kanto know, but Magnemite and Magneton are duel types; electric and steel," Lieutenant Surge says with a small chuckle. "And no, I wasn't going to use Sargent against you."

"What? But he's your signature Pokémon!" Ash says in surprise and confusion.

"Yeah, he is," Lieutenant Surge agrees with a smile. "But I only use him against trainers with potential."

"Then why a raichu?" Ash asks, looking back at Sargent. "Aren't they the same?"

"I wasn't thinking about those regular raichu," the solider hints with a smirk.

Ash looks confused. His eyes went to check on Taylor, wondering if the raichu is alright being used as a pillow. It only takes a moment before realization sits in.

Lieutenant Surge watches this with amusement. Seeing Ash works his hint out is amusing, though he suspects the boy wouldn't have figured it out if the Alolan Raichu wasn't there.

"If I recommended no rodent Pokémon, what would you have chosen?" Ash asks after a moment of silence.

"Well, there is this electric bug that might work," the soldier says.

"No, Misty wouldn't like that," Ash yawns almost as soon as Lieutenant Surge suggested it. "She's my stand-in and she's afraid of bugs."

"The Cerulean Gym leader?" Lieutenant Surge asks interested. He knew she was following the kids, traveling with them, but he didn't think it would be any more than that since she takes her role as future gym leader seriously. But Ash nodding in acknowledgment is making it sound… different than what he thought.

"Gary and I split up after Viridian City," Ash explains, shocking the gym leader. He didn't expect that answer. Ash didn't seem to notice as he kept on talking; "He went to deliver the parcel while I wanted to help Amber Silk find a safe place to live."

"The Viridian Forest," Lieutenant Surge guesses.

"I thought she could be safe there," Ash says with a nod. "But all we found was Lil' Ribbon barely hanging on. Misty and I used a lot of our potions on her… and I am honestly surprised she made it."

Lieutenant Surge looks at the baby Pokémon, thinking about what he has learned. She can't be more than a month old, and he knows her kind tends to keep the baby Pokémon in their dens until three months, or when they evolve. If she's out before, and from what Ash said of the condition they found her in…

He'll look into it later. Right now, he needs to get Ash to focus on more positive things.

"You know, I'm surprise Gary isn't your stand-in," he says in an attempt to change the subject.

"Gary's too impatient and would step in if it's even just slightly hectic," Ash says with a small laugh, though his eyes are still watching the baby Pokémon. "Misty, while she frustrates easily, watch and coach beside me but never tries to tell me what to do."

Lieutenant Surge wasn't sure what to say to that. The time he knew her, before her parents left the gym in the sisters' care, she has never come off as someone who can support someone in need. She always seems too impatient and would rather do things herself.

And yet, seeing her care for Ash and hearing from the boy about it… well, to be honest he isn't sure what to think. Perhaps he should look at the videos and see it for himself.

"I don't think I'm worthy of the badge," Ash says suddenly, startling the soldier slightly.

"How about this," Lieutenant Surge sighs. "You list everything why you aren't worthy while I list everything why you are. Or I could just give you another way to look at the badge."

"What other way is there to look at a badge, no matter how different it may look?" Ash asks bitterly. "It's just something to say "Hey, look! I got this badge so I'm important!" even if it's a lie just to make the person feel better!"

 **"Now Ash,"** Lucario warns sternly. By now the other Pokémon are wide awake and worried.

"No, it's alright," Lieutenant Surge says. "That's how he sees these badges. But it's not what this badge is about."

"Oh yeah," Ash scoffs not believing it a bit. "Then what is it?"

"It's a physical reminder of the milestone you have achieved with the help of you partners," the gym leader says seriously and firmly. "It's to remind you about how far you can and all of the challenges you've met to reach this goal.

"You've said it yourself; they've been through a lot before you even met," he went on. "From your dedication to help them, even though you're uncomfortable with it, gave them a reason to fight back and to achieve things that aren't normally possible."

Ash sat in silence as those words sinks in. He looks at the badge again; this time letting the words of what Lieutenant Surge says play over in his mind.

The storm clouds brought in the memories of the difficult times he had with them, from their lives being in danger to the fear he had at times. The times when he thought they weren't going to survive. The odd heart shape of the cloud reminds him of the love they shared, even though their passions are different. Whether or not the shape is intentional doesn't matter.

The lightning coming from the clouds reminds him of wings wrapping protectively against the bad of the world. It reminds him of the times he saved Amber Silk and how she saved him in return. The memory of Lil' Ribbon pulling him up from the chasm assaulted his mind, reminding him how she also fought to save him, even from the forces of gravity.

The colors of the lightning brought forth the memory of the giant bird Pokémon flying through the rainbow. It brought the sense of safety and wonder, letting the fear melt away if only for a little bit. It brought on the memory of Taylor growing excited whenever Amber Silk wanted a new costume to try or when he needed an outfit. It even brought the memory of Lil' Ribbon trying to get away from the ribbons that fell on top of her when she was trying to figure out what they were.

In the center is the Thunderbadge, the small flower/sun symbol the gym is known for. However Ash can now see the gym battle when he looks at it, seeing how even when it was hard, impossible, they fought together and protected one another. He can see the looks of happiness in their eyes when they won, and the look of horror when the raichu went to finish him off.

He can see his other Pokémon fighting to keep them safe. He can see the moment the gym started falling apart, how they came together to protect their enemies. He can see the moment when he met each one of them to the moment he woke up in the hospital.

 **"Ash?"** Lil' Ribbon's voice squeaks in concern. Ash looks to see the look of concern in her brown eyes, so big and watery; a look that mirrors his own. **"Are you okay?"**

Ash stares at her as he realizes he _can understand her_! He can understand her as though she's speaking in the same language as he speaks, yet he can still hear the squeaks of her Pokémon tongue.

And yet he doesn't care. _It's not important!_ Tears starts coming from his eyes before he even notice they were there. Still, he nods his head softly before showing her the badge.

"Look, Lil' Ribbon," he says gently. He watches as she takes her concern eyes off of him and curiously looks at the item in his hand. He laughs at her confused look before explaining gently; "It's a symbol of the battles we faced and challenges we've overcome, together, as a team."

And just like that, _all_ of his Pokémon got excited and tries looking at the badge. Ash laughs as he tries to keep it safe with promises of showing them if they calm down, but it fell on deaf ears.

Hearing his laughter, Lieutenant Surge couldn't help but smile. He's happy Ash finally seems to understand the importance of the badge, and that he's getting along with the Pokémon. But that isn't why he's smiling.

No, he's remembering his first meeting with the boy. He hadn't met him before the accident, even though Red kept showing off photos and videos of his family. He only knew Ash as the survivor of a terrible accident. He could only see the boy unable to do much of anything except stubbornly kept on moving when he shouldn't have.

He remembers the boy fighting against all odds, causing shock and proves everyone wrong when he achieved the impossible.

It surprises him how different the Ash from then is from the Ash of now, yet is still exactly the same.

He looks over at the door when he heard it opening. Seeing Nurse Joy peeking in brought him out of his chair and over to Ash.

"Listen, I'm going to get to bed now, since you're alight," he says loud enough to be heard over the excited Pokémon. "I suggest you lot do the same. You don't know when someone would try to wake you up."

 **"Sleep is the best way for your body to recover,"** Lucario adds, picking up a blanket and covering everyone on the bed. **"I'm going to talk to the nurse, but I'll be right back."**

"Okay, okay!" Ash laughs as the Pokémon crawls out from under the blanket and onto him. "Goodnight."

 **"Goodnight, Ash,"** Lucario says softly as he stood up to leave. **"Hopefully I'll see you no sooner than after the sun has come up in the morning."**

"Lieutenant?" Ash spoke up, though his voice is heavy and slightly slurred, like he's about to fall sleep. However it did get the soldier to stop before he left the room. "Thank you."

"Hey, you're the one who fought those bullies at their game, not me," he says.

"No," the almost asleep boy groans. "Thank you for supporting me, for believing in me all those years ago. It helped."

Lieutenant Surge stood by the door in shock. He had no idea how Ash felt all those years, unable to do much or prove… He had his family and friends to support him, yet… He says barely loud enough to be heard; "You're welcome."

No one said anything as the door shut softly. They stood in the hallway, all trying to figure out what to say. Nurse Joy looks like she's trying not to cry.

"That boy has been through so much," she manages to say without tears falling from her eyes. "It's not fair…"

"Yeah, well, whoever said that life is fair was probably just trying to comfort a poor, naive soul," Lieutenant Surge says bitterly. What he's bitter about, he can't say.

 **"That's the problem with Ideals and Truths,"** Lucario says. **"Ideals are wonderful while the truth is cruel, at least most of the time they are."**

Neither human dare to speak. Each one trying to go through their thoughts, trying to put everything aside and focus on the now.

 **"How is Ash?"** Lucario asks. **"Would he be leaving soon?"**

"That's the problem," Nurse Joy admits with a tired sigh. "He seems so string now, but with his history… it'll only be a matter of time before his body gives out and he'll be hospitalized again. I'd rather not have that happen while he's in the middle of nowhere."

"So you're saying you want him to give up?" Lieutenant Surge asks bitterly. "After everything he's done?"

"I'm not saying that!" Nurse Joy denies quietly. "I'm saying he needs to be more careful! With his medical history, we need to be more careful."

 **"Then what do you suggest?"** Lucario asks gently, knowing it won't do him good to get upset.

"I don't know," Nurse Joy admits. "Have him not participate in battles is a start. Or have him travel by car instead of walking."

"Or he could get himself checked out while his Pokémon are being checked out," Lieutenant Surge suggests. "Either way we need to talk to his mother and those traveling with him."

As the three walked away, a wisp of air moved as something invisible moves around. It floats around the door of where Ash sleeps. It looks moves around for a bit, almost as though it's pacing. Then, as quietly as before, the wisp of air suddenly went still as though there is nothing there.

* * *

 **AN: I wanted to add something at the end, to explain more about Ash's condition, how he survived the electrical attack and why he seems to be doing fine now, but I couldn't figure out how to explain it in a way that felt semi-natural.**

 **If you don't want any spoilers about it, then please stop reading.**

 **[Before the spoilers] Ash has** **issues** **, mainly with** **self-worth** **and confidence. I hope I** **portrayed** **that here, even just a bit.**

 **Spoilers coming soon. Back away now if you don't want to see them.**

 **X**

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 **X**

 **You still here? Last chance before the spoilers.**

 **Too late, no turning back now.**

 **Simply put; it's his aura. He has such a high level or is a natural with it that it protected him to an extent. It also healed him to the point he didn't need to be on life-support but because he wasn't trained in it, it couldn't heal him quickly or correctly. Eventually his body got used to the condition that his aura alone can't heal him.**

 **In this story, Aura Adapts have a Pokemon whose aura signature is** **compatible** **with it. Usually it's a riolu or lucario [sorry if I misspelled their names here] though there are times when it's a different Pokemon. In Ash's case it's Amber Silk, though the rest of his "team" do help.**

 **Next chapter [hopefully] the Eevee-lution Solution; staring Lil' Ribbon and Gary! With guess stars of everyone else!**


	7. Eeveelution Solution

_**Disclaimer; I don't own Pokemon. This is just for fun.**_

 _ **Edit: Forgot the site doesn't add the lines. Re-added them.**_

 **An; Guest got it right; the two Pokemon are Cosplay Pikachu and a Pichu. Since you don't have an account I'll ask here; is there a Pokemon you want one member of the group to have or an episode you'd like me to write [only the Indigo League series please]?**

 **If any one has a suggestion, then play my game and try to guess who's who and I'll listen.**

 **Sorry for taking so long to get this out, and it not being the best quality. The anniversary of my Grandma's death just recently passed and I had trouble writing because of it. And, last month... I decide to try to turn my hobby into a business. It ate up all of my free time, and I'm nowhere near getting it started.**

 **Please leave a review for this story. It is very depressing to see my other stories getting likes and follows while this one isn't getting any.**

 **That's all. Please enjoy this chapter. I didn't have the time nor patience to rewrite the whole episode. Let me know how bad I did and what I can do better.**

* * *

The large group of human and Pokémon continue on their way. Lil' Ribbon is busy admiring her everstone and is not paying much attention to her surroundings. She's cradling it like a Pokédoll, rubbing her paws against its smooth surface and gives a content sigh.

In her opinion, nothing is worse than being force to become something you're not ready for.

"You better hope we don't leave you behind while you're admiring your rock," Gary says as he walks backwards to keep an eye on her. The Kanto pichu gave a small growl of annoyance before she notices just how far back she is from the rest of the group, including the Pokémon.

"Pi chu!" she cries as she absorbs the everstone. Then she runs as fast as she can, running under Gary's legs causing him to nearly trip. She smirks in triumph as she hears him calling out to her. Ignoring his words, she runs through the group to Misty.

Gary grumbles under his breath as the baby rodent ran into the group. He isn't surprised that she ran straight to Misty. The water trainer practically raised the little Pokémon since their first meeting.

He does smile a bit when Lil' Ribbon, tired of waiting for Misty to notice her, jumps to her shorts and climbs her. He can deny all he wants; seeing something cute always melts his heart and calms his nerves.

"Oh, Lil' Ribbon," Misty scolds. Lil' Ribbon gives her an innocent look, causing Misty's look to soften. "You're lucky you're so cute."

Lil' Ribbon smiles before snuggling securely in her arms. As she pulls out her everstone, she hears Misty talking to Ash; "You've been walking all day; you need to rest soon."

"Hey Brock?" Ash asks with a bit of a struggle. "How far's town?"

"Ack! Eve!" Gary screams suddenly. Lil' Ribbon hears Eve laughing and looks to see her jumping from her master's shoulder back to the woods before stalking him again. She sees Gary looking at his starter with annoyance. "Stop doing that!"

Lil' Ribbon decides to ignore the commotion and focus on her stone. It's so plain it can be mistaken as another regular rock. Yet she can feel it pull the energy for her evolution, preventing it from happening. She asked Lucario and Big Ash, the man who kind of looks like Ash, about it and they seem to think she's in tune with aura.

But that's silly; she's already a Pokémon, she doesn't need to be more Pokémon.

She looks up from her stone to see where the rest of the pack is. For the humans, Ash is leading the pack down the dirt path with Brock on one side, looking over the map and Misty on the other, though is a bit farther as to give the boy some space. Gary, who is usually next to Ash, is in the back of the pack for some reason. Big Ash is to the side of the group, carrying the sleeping child.

She briefly wonders how Big Ash got the child to trust him so fast. Then she shrugs it off.

Amber Silk is nowhere near Ash, which is odd since she's normally near him if not on his shoulder. Looking up Lil' Ribbon sees her riding a flying Pokémon, one she doesn't recognize. They are racing Skye Grace and Taylor, for some reason. Maybe they're bored and are trying to pass the time.

Her eyes glanced over the trio before going back to them.

Fire Marshal and Forest Warren getting along isn't too surprising nowadays; they overcame their differences some time ago. But Fire Heart is a surprise since he hadn't been friendly since he evolved. Yet here he is, talking to the other two.

Mama Khan is watching them, just in case… at least Lil' Ribbon thinks she is. Baby Khan and Pikaboo are asleep in her pouch with one of the eggs. Sometimes Lil' Ribbon wonders how Mama Khan handles carrying so much in her pouch.

Pincher is side-walking as he usually is. Vulpix seems to be keeping an eye out for bird Pokémon looking for a meal. The rest of the Pokémon are safely inside the Pokéballs much to Lil' Ribbon's dismay she likes having them out as a pack.

Of course since most of them are either too big to fit on a regular path, or always seems to ignore the humans, it's better to have them where they can't cause trouble. Besides, it'll mean less stress on Ash.

She looks over to Lucario and isn't surprised to see him as far away from Big Ash as he can be, and glaring daggers at the man. She doesn't understand them, they know each other and the man is sad but the Pokémon is upset. Yet it seems they are still looking out for each other from time to time… it's all very confusing for the baby Pokémon.

She's pulled out of her thoughts, from the corner of her eye she saw Ash fall down.

 **"Ash!"** she cries as she reabsorbs her everstone and launch out of Misty's arms. She's by his side in time to see him trying to push himself up with shaking arms. Pokéballs open as the whole pack surrounds the human, not that Lil' Ribbon notice. **"Are you okay?"**

"Fine, tripped," the boy says. Lil' Ribbon isn't completely convinced, but knew better than to press the matter.

"I knew you were pushing yourself too hard," Misty says as she kneels down beside Ash. "I know you want to prove to the world you're getting better, but you don't need to push yourself into exhaustion. It's not healthy."

"I have to agree with Misty," Brock says as he checks Ash out. "I know you want to make it to the next town, and it isn't that far, but all signs are pointing this as a bad day. You need the rest."

"Tru need rest to," Ash says, struggling to stand.

"Ack! Eve, stop that; this is serious!" Gary says as Eve pounces on him. His starter cries in protests, causing him to roll his eyes. "If you still want to play, go find Mirage.

"How are we going to carry him?" he asks the group, ignoring his eevee. Seeing everyone looks at him he explains, "He's right about Tru needing rest and I'm pretty sure the others aren't an option if we want to avoid an unnecessary incident."

"Right… and using the herd, even just one member, is just asking for trouble," Misty says with a nod. "I don't think we trained them to carry passengers anyway."

"I'm sure Onix won't mind," Brock says.

"Except for the fact he won't be able to fit on this road," Gary points out. He then helps Ash to, at least, sit up properly.

 **'Huh?'** Lil' Ribbon thinks as her ears twitch. She thought she heard something. Straining her ears, she can hear something faint. She tries turning away, but her gut is telling her to head over there, quickly.

 **"Ash, can I borrow Dexter?"** she asks sweetly, trying not to show how nervous she really is. Looking in his eyes, she can tell she doesn't fool him in the slightest. **"I hear something; I want to check it out. If it's bad he can call Dee to tell you where I am, okay?"**

Ash looks around and Lil' Ribbon worries he isn't going to let her. Seeing how everyone is busy trying to figure the current dilemma out, Ash reaches into his pocket and pulls out Dexter and whispers, "Stay safe."

 **"I will,"** Lil' Ribbon promise. She runs off with Dexter in her mouth, as holding it in her paws would have been difficult. She stops long enough to listen before taking off again.

Surprisingly it doesn't take long before the cries are more noticeable. Whatever it is seems to be calling for someone, but isn't moving around. She starts moving closer when she hears the voice cry out in fear; **"HELP!"**

She wastes no time in running towards the Pokémon in trouble. Going through the bush, she comes across a sight that sends shivers down her spine. There, from what she could see, is an eevee tied to a tree with an ekans stalking it and she is still a distance away.

 **"Here, you can have my food and water,"** the eevee says while pushing something closer towards the ekans. **"Just please don't eat me."**

 **"Now why would I give up a nice, warm fresh meal for that hard stuff?"** the ekans asks as it slithers closer. Lil' Ribbon drops Dexter as she darts towards the ekans. **"I bet it doesn't even taste that good."**

 **"Mikey, help,"** the eevee whimpers as it curls up in fear. There wasn't much it could do as the ekans prepares to strike.

 **"Leave the eevee alone!"** Lil' Ribbon cries just before she slams into the ekans.

 **"Wai… wha?"** the eevee asks in a daze. **"Who are you?"**

 **"Tell you later,"** Lil' Ribbon says, not even looking back to the Pokémon. She's position defensively at an angle instead of directly in front. **"Are you okay?"**

 **"Yeah, thank you,"** the eevee says with relief knowing it isn't going to be eaten soon.

 **"Don't thank me yet,"** Lil' Ribbon says, still looking at the ekans. The snake Pokémon slithers up, annoyed his meal has been interrupted.

 **"Why did you stop me from my meal?"** it asks. Not waiting for an answer, and shaking its head, it adds, **"Doesn't matter; this is a feast. It must be my lucky day."**

Feeling nervous, Lil' Ribbon tries reaching for Dexter to get the other… only to realize she dropped him when she attacked the ekans. She hopes she had at least pressed a button or something.

She snaps back to the ekans just in time to flip out of the way. She shakes her head to focus on the battle, rather than if she pressed a button or not.

 **'Okay, don't panic; think,'** Lil' Ribbon thinks as she keeps her eyes on the enemy. **'You faced an ekans before. Remember how it thinks…'**

She ducks when the ekans lunge at her. She grabs the tail and swings it away from the eevee, though it wasn't far since she doesn't have the strength yet. At least its attention is still on her, even though she doesn't know if that's good or bad.

 **'Okay, I can only remember the arbok, but they shouldn't be too different… I hope,'** the dancing pichu thinks as she twirls out of the ekans' way. **'It has some sort of spit… and a powerful bite. Looking in its eyes can cause paralysis and… what else?'**

 **"Eep!"** she yelps as she backflips over the back of the ekans as it tries to grab her. **"Wrap! That's what I was forgetting!"**

 **"Hold still, food,"** the ekans hiss, clearly getting annoyed with Lil' Ribbon. It wasn't able to resist the pichu's Charm. **"You may be cute, but I'm starving!"**

 **"Then why don't you eat the eevee's food?"** a voice similar to the ekans asks from the tree the eevee is at. **"He did offer."**

 **"Stay out of this, sister!"** the ekans Lil' Ribbon's fighting snaps. Lil' Ribbon is afraid of looking back in case this ekans attacks her. **"Besides; fresh warm food is better than that hard stuff."**

 **"Have you even tried it?"** the voice asks. However the ekans ignores her as it finally wraps itself around Lil' Ribbon, only for the pichu to give it a Sweet Kiss.

 **"I'm gonna eat you up, even though the world is spinning,"** it announce as it went for the kill.

* * *

 **"And he's biting himself,"** the voice, a green ekans says in disappointment.

 **"Um, why aren't you trying to eat me?"** the eevee asks. Seeing her focus her eyes on him causes him to panic. **"N…not that… I… I don't m…mind. J…just won…wondering."**

 **"I don't eat live prey,"** the ekans says with a shudder. **"Had a very traumatizing experience, don't want to talk about it."**

 **"Oh, okay,"** the eevee says. He doesn't exactly relax but he does take his eyes off of her. **"That little pikachu is pretty good at dancing."**

Sure enough, the electric mouse has gotten free from the ekans's wrap and is now sidestepping, twirling, ducking and jumping out of harm's way. The ekans is too busy trying to focus and hitting itself to really notice. It almost looks mesmerizing to watch, which is what the two are doing.

 **"Pichu,"** the ekans say suddenly, causing the eevee to look at her. **"I'm pretty sure that Pokémon is a pichu, a pre-evolve form of pikachu."**

 **"Oh,"** the eevee says, unsure what to say. Right now the pichu is somersaulting around the ekans. An attack, a tackle, hit the pichu but the ekans got paralyze in the process. **"Um, does your brother always fight like this?"**

 **"No, he's usually worse,"** the ekans sighs. To the pichu's horror, the ekans shed his skin. **"I won't be surprised if her trainer catches him, if they come in time."**

 **"How do you know she has a trainer?"** the eevee asks. The pichu manages to make the ekans dizzy again. **"She seems to be a wild Pokémon to me."**

 **"A wild Pokémon only seeks to keep themselves from harm; a caught Pokémon forgets this preservation,"** the ekans explains. The two they're watching are at a sort of standstill, waiting for the other to make a move. **"If you could help a Pokémon from being attacked by another Pokémon that is your predator, would you run or fight?"**

 **"I think I understand now,"** the eevee says, looking back at the battle. The pichu is dancing, leading the ekans. So far he's only trying to Bite and Wrap her, which she knows to avoid. **"I like how she makes it look like an elegant dance."**

 **"And my brother her ribbon,"** the ekans agrees. Sometimes when the pichu jumps, the ekans tries following, only for her to summersault away. The way she twirls causes the ekans to move around her in speed to her spins. Then she'll backflip over his body and he follows suit, often over shooting her and hitting the ground instead. **"Can I try your food?"**

 **"Um, okay,"** the eevee says hesitantly.

* * *

 **"Stop moving!"** the ekans snaps. Lil' Ribbon backs up towards the bushes she came from. She's hoping to get to Dexter to send that beacon. **"Stay Still And Let Me Eat You!"**

 **"I know a human who cooks up some amazing dishes, food,"** Lil' Ribbon says, trying to bide time. She sees the ekans tense up and sidesteps to the right just in time. **"If you want, I can show you to him and he can make a delicious dish for you."**

 **"Lies,"** the ekans hiss sharply. Its jaws clamp pretty close to Lil' Ribbon, causing her to leap to the left and tumble her landing. The ekans towers over her, ready to strike and finish her off one and for all. **"There are no human who'd listen to Pokémon."**

 **"Barrier Reflect,"** Dexter beeps suddenly, causing the ekans to hit the barrier hard. The snake Pokémon isn't knocked out, but it is pretty dazed at the moment. Lil' Ribbon releases the breath she didn't know she was holding. **"You Pressed Record. It'll Take Me A Few Moments To Send The Beacon As I Assume You Desired.**

 **"On A Side Note; I Did Catch Your Entire Battle,"** Dexter adds, causing Lil' Ribbon to blush even though she's trying to catch her breath. She then went to pick up the Pokédex, just in case.

 **"You dirty, cheating rodent!"** the ekans hiss harshly, causing Lil' Ribbon's to freeze in fear. She glances over her shoulder to see the snake Pokémon upright and glaring angrily at her. **"I'm going to make you pay for that!"**

Lil' Ribbon's feet toss Dexter into the air just as she back somersaults out of the way. As the ekans hit the ground, she uses the momentum gained to leap into the air and catch Dexter in her mouth. As Dexter is a pretty hard object, and both she and the Pokédex were moving, catching it in her mouth hurts and she thinks she almost broke a tooth.

She lands on her paws and ran back towards the tree the eevee is trapped in. The ekans gives pursuit and Lil' Ribbon had to guess how it's moving since she can't risk looking over her shoulder. Her ears strain to hear where he is and when to react.

A sudden thought had her tumbling over her left shoulder, turning to face her opponent, leaping with the momentum and using Attract on the ekans. She doesn't wait to see if it works or not as she's using the momentum to face ahead and, as soon as her paws touch the ground, run as fast as she can with a bulky and heavy handheld computer in her mouth, threatening to fall.

She manages to get near it, enough to see a green ekans trying the eevee's food, before the ekans from before wraps its body around her, causing her to drop Dexter. She can see the heart in his eyes, confirming his gender to her. But it pales in comparison to being trapped and possibly squeezed to death, so no; her attraction didn't work.

 **"Oh my sweetheart, let me hold you forever in my heart,"** the ekans sings horribly. Lil' ribbon realizes in horror that this is worse than being eaten to death. She starts struggling, trying to get herself lose and free.

 **"Hey Brother!"** the other ekans called out. **"That's not how you get someone to fall for you!"**

 **"Lay Off!"** he snaps at her… Lil' Ribbon thinks he called her sister once before so… **"This sweetheart's mine! And we're going to have lots of little terrors to take over the world!"**

 **"Now you're being a creep,"** his sister sighs. She looks at the eevee and says; **"Excuse me as I deal with him."**

 **"Hey Creep!"** a voice she recognize calls out, stopping the green ekans from advancing, not that Lil' Ribbon notices. Suddenly his grip on her loosens as he flies across the small clearing, startling the green ekans and the eevee. There standing defensively in front of Lil' Ribbon is a well-groomed wild eevee known to her as Eve… and she doesn't look happy. **"You keep your skin off my pack-sister!"**

"Blind him with Sand-Attack!" Lil' Ribbon hears Gary calling out the order. Eve complies, kicking the sand up with her tail and straight in the ekans' eyes.

 **"Gyah! I'm Blind!"** the ekans screams in pain. As he tries to get the sand out of his eyes, using his tail, Lil' Ribbon felt something picking her up.

"He didn't hurt you to bad, did he?" she hears Gary asking. The eevee she's been protecting suddenly runs up and she wants to speak to him, make sure he's alright.

Gary looks between the eevee, the tree and the regular color ekans before speaking; "You ran off because you heard the eevee calling for help?"

Lil' Ribbon is trembling badly now that she knows she's safe. While she doesn't like Gary, and vice versa, she knows he won't let harm come to her. She tries talking to him, but the words die on her throat. He seems to know as he says, "No, don't speak. Just, try to rest now."

He bends down to look over the eevee. Lil' Ribbon closes her eyes, just for a moment. Just so she can forget just how close she was to death.

Gary was the first to notice Lil' Ribbon not there. Ash told him, when asked, that she went to investigate something and took Dexter with her. He checked Dee to see if she message, but there was nothing.

While it could mean she hasn't found what she's looking for or wasn't in any danger, Gary decided to play it safe. He gave Dee to Brock and called Eve over, claiming to check in on her just in case. He already memorized Dexter's location on Dee's map and he headed straight there.

He saw her running away from an ekans, who seems to be very angry. He saw her launching a powerful Attract. It seems to work to an extent, but then Eve got very upset and used Tackle on the ekans, causing it to let go of Lil' Ribbon. He suspects she only Tackle instead of one of her stronger attacks is because Lil' Ribbon was in harm's way.

Still, she seems fine if only shaken up. Seeing the eevee with the collar and a chewed up leash gave him the conclusion Lil' Ribbon heard his cries for help. Now she's asleep in his arms, the strange eevee at his legs and two ekans, one fighting Eve and the other slithering over with a bowl of Pokéfood in its mouth.

"Dexter," he says, hoping the Pokédex can use his voice for a command. There's really only one thing he can do; "Call the others, please."

* * *

Time skip; because I'm lazy and want this chapter over with

* * *

Gary sighs as he walks over to Mikey. After hearing what the brothers had to say, well, he can't really fault the kid for almost killing his Pokémon, no matter how unintentional it was. Oh, he's still upset over it, but seeing as the kid in question is only six or so years old, and as an eleven year old with not so good ideas, he can see just how trapped and despite the kid is.

"Hey there," he says, trying to get the kid's attention. Mikey says nothing but his body language says he heard him. It's also depressed; something that just doesn't seem right. "You don't want to evolve your eevee."

"How'd you know?" Mikey asks, finally looking at him. Gary couldn't fight the smile that came when he saw the shock and awe in Mikey's eyes.

"Lil' Ribbon was the same way," Gary explains, pointing to the pichu playing with Mikey's eevee, playing catch with her everstone. "She went through great lengths to keep from evolving. Once we knew what she wanted, we got her the stone they're playing with."

"How can a stone stop her from evolving?" Mikey asks, clearly confused with it. His eyes are watching the stone when he asked.

"That's a special one; it keeps Pokémon from evolving," Gary explains as he sits down next to Mikey. Seeing the hopeful look Mikey has, Gary adds; "Of course, not evolving is her choice. It's important for the Pokémon to choose if they want to evolve or not."

"What do you mean?" the young boy asks worriedly. Why he's worried about, Gary wasn't sure though he thinks it involves the eeveelution party, what it represents anyway.

"Evolving is a big milestone for Pokémon, one that isn't taken lightly," he explains while thinking about it. "Once they evolve, they can't go back and if they aren't comfortable… well, there isn't much they could do about it."

"I don't want Eevee to be uncomfortable," Mikey says honestly. He looks at Eevee with a thoughtful expression. Then Eve suddenly comes up and tries pouncing on Gary, only for him to move out of the way last moment. A sudden thought came to Mikey; "Are you going to evolve you eevee?"

"Which one?" Gary mutters, trying in vain to get Eve to stop pouncing on him. "My starter here or the others?"

"All, any," Mikey says, getting confused.

"Like I said; it's up to them," he answers, finally getting Eve to sit on his lap to be petted and brushed. "They have been talking about it, but none of them are ready yet."

"Oh," Mikey looks at the ground not really wanting to talk anymore. His eevee and Lil' Ribbon comes running up. His eevee jumps into Mikey's arms and starts licking his face, causing the boy to laugh, "Eevee, stop."

The eeveelutions comes up, each carrying their evolutionary stone. They place the stones in front of Mikey and Eevee before stepping away. Both Eevee and Mikey knew they have to choose.

Lil' Ribbon pulls on Gary's leg, trying to get his attention. The boy looks down but says nothing, afraid of drawing attention. Lil' Ribbon pulls out her everstone before pointing at the assorted stones.

Gary nods in understanding before pulling out Dee and looking into the teams' inventory. He shakes his head, signaling "no" to her. She seems to understand because she looks sad herself, before running over to the eeveelutions.

She speaks to them, and to Gary's surprise, puts the stone next to the others. Gary watches quietly as she traded words with Eevee before walking back to him. While he's proud of Lil' Ribbon for giving up her stone for Eevee, he's worried how she'll handle being without it.

Eevee hesitantly takes the everstone and absorbs it into his body. His happiness is short lived when he notices Lil' Ribbon in pain. Gary gave a sigh and picks her up.

"It looks like your eevee wants to stay as eevee," he says to Mikey.

"Yeah," Mikey says happily as he picks up his eevee. Then his smile vanishes. "What about her? Do you have another stone?"

"Unfortunately we don't," Gary sighs, holding the pichu close. "We'll have to keep an eye out for one, if she doesn't evolve before then."

"Wh…what if we gave the stone back?" Mikey asks pretty fast. Gary suspects the boy feels bad about this and wants to help. Lil' Ribbon protests loudly, causing Gary to laugh.

"I think she wants to help her friend out," Gary says gently. "Even if it means, well, this."

"But…" Mikey protests.

 **"No!"** Lil' Ribbon says firmly, startling everyone. **"Friends help friends with what they have. Once your brothers see you guys don't want this, then you can hand it back; not before."**

"…I see you've been practicing your aura to communicate…" Gary says, trying to come to terms with it. "Either that or I'm going crazy."

"How did she speak?" Mikey asks, proving to Gary he isn't going crazy. "What's aura?"

 **"Aura lets humans attack like Pokémon and Pokémon speak like humans,"** Lil' Ribbon says with pride.

"That's…" Gary starts before cutting himself off. "Those are some benefits but that's not it."

"Then what is it?" Mikey asks. He's bouncing on his toes, clearly trying to contain his excitement. "Can Eevee and I learn it?"

"I don't know about that," Gary says, a bit put back. "We've just started learning about this a few months ago."

"Oh," Mikey says in disappointment. It seems so cool to be able to attack like Eevee can and have Eevee talk to him.

"Look," Gary says as gently as he could. "I'm not saying you couldn't. I just don't have the knowledge to give you the answers. But I know someone who does."

"Really?" the kid asks with a hopeful look in his eyes. Even Eevee looks excited.

"Yeah," Gary says with a gentle smile. "Why don't we go ask him?"

"You mean, he's here?" Mikey asks, looking a bit nervous. "Does that mean we have to join the party?"

"I hope not," Gary mutters. Lil' Ribbon shakes in pain, causing Gary to check her out. He is relieved to see everything is okay, but he knows it's only a matter of time. Even though they don't get along very often, he does worry for her from time to time. "Let's go find him and asks about what you want to know, okay?"

"Okay," Mikey says, not looking forwards to this but determined all the same. "And before my brothers find out, if we can."

* * *

Time skip; same reason as before.

* * *

Gary, Mikey and Lil' Ribbon chases the thieves up the mountain. Even though Lil' Ribbon is in immense pain from trying not to evolve, she doesn't want to lose her new friend to these meanies.

Following Seahorse's ink trail is making it a lot easier for them. But knowing these people are using a truck and could be miles away from them doesn't sit well for the baby mouse Pokémon.

"I sure hope Eve is alright," she hears Gary say quietly. "Either that or she's giving them hell."

A laugh escapes Lil' Ribbon's throat at the thought. The only good thing is Eve's the only eevee in the group to be caught; the others had been playing hide-n-seek with Mikey's brothers.

Those brothers wanted to evolve them into their favorite eeveelution. Brock told Mikey that he'll speak with them, to see if they won't calm down on their obsession… then the party was attacked and Eevee was taken away and she couldn't stop it.

"You okay, Lil' Ribbon," she hears Gary asking her, bringing her out from the memory. She went to nod, before shaking her head. She isn't alright! Her new best friend was taken away and she doesn't think she'll see him again!

Suddenly she's in Gary's arms and the tears she's been trying to ignore comes rushing out. She barely feels his hand rubbing her back, or his legs walking down the road. She doesn't even know how long it was she cried before the tears stopped.

He suddenly jumps off the road and in a ditch, startling Lil' Ribbon. Before she could make a sound, her ears twitch as voices reaches them. Focusing, she can hear her friend trying to call for help.

"Dee," Gary whispers. "Let Dexter and the authorities know where we are."

Dee beeps but doesn't make a sound. Lil' Ribbon looks at the thieves to see them having a picnic. A small growl escapes her throat before pain washes over as her body tries to force evolve her again. She can feel Gary trying to soothe her.

"Think you can handle this?" he asks her softly. The pain she's feeling is so immense that a part of her doesn't think she can. But thinking about Eevee and Eve being forced to evolve gave her the strength to fight pass the pain; look Gary into the eyes and nods.

Now Gary isn't blind; he can see the pain she's in. He knew she wants to save her friend and pack-members, he just isn't sure if her body can handle it.

Yet when she looks right in his eyes, he can see that pain she's in and the determination overpowering it. It gave him enough confidence in her to trust her in this.

"Okay, then," he sighs. He puts a hand on Mikey's shoulder trying to reassure the quiet boy. "Let's figure out how to get the Pokémon out, or at least distract the thieves from the eevees."

"Eeveu?" a voice of an eevee asks from behind them. They take a look and see a wild silvery white eevee, with a leaf-bag around its neck, looking past them and towards the cages. Then it looks at them with wide silver-blue eyes filled with worry. "Eveu?"

Lil' Ribbon starts talking to it while Gary brought Dee up to scan it. A scan shows its gender to be female, and there are no oddities aside from her coat. Overall she's a strong, healthy eevee.

 **"She says she's a friend of Eevee and apologizes for being late to the party,"** Lil' Ribbon says. She looks back at the eevee as she speaks. **"She and her kin wanted to give Eevee a gift but couldn't find them in time. She also wants to know why he is in a cage. Oh, wait."**

As Lil' Ribbon went to explain things to the newcomer, Gary looks over at Mikey.

"Hey Mikey?" he asks quietly, trying to get the boy's attention and not the thieves. "How well do you know eevees in general?"

"Well," Mikey whispers. "I studied Eevee's needs and what moves he can learn. But fully evolve Pokémon are better…"

"Stop right there," Gary orders. "Fully evolved Pokémon might be more powerful than a pre-evolved Pokémon, if they had the same amount of training.

"Lil' Ribbon here fought and won against a raichu in a triple battle," he explains, looking at the baby Pokémon. "She didn't have much experience in fighting, but she was determined to help Ash and her pack-mates out."

"So?" Mikey asks. "She's still a baby Pokémon."

"Right," Gary says, confusing Mikey even more. "She's a baby Pokémon that beat a highly trained, fully-evolved Pokémon. Evolution isn't everything; it's using what you know and what you have the best you can."

 **"And doing the best you can while giving it your all,"** Lil' Ribbon adds. **"You know what an eevee's attacks are, right?"**

"Yeah," Mikey says with confusion lacing his voice. "Just mine."

 **"Eevee's friend here knows the same moves Eevee knows,"** Lil' Ribbon says as she pushes the wild eevee towards Mikey. **"And they heard great things about you from him."**

"But she's wild," Mikey protests quietly.

"So is Lil' Ribbon and about 3-4th of our team," Gary points out. "Look, as long as the Pokémon trusts and respects you, and you trust and respect them in return, then whether they are wild or not doesn't matter.

"Besides," Gary adds as he looks at the thieves again. "We're only providing a distraction until the others can get here."

* * *

Another Time Skip, though not by much; I didn't know how to write the thieves catching them.

* * *

"Eevee!" Mikey shouts as the silver color eevee was knocked back by one of the opponent's dragonite. The female eevee shakily got to her feet and glares at the dragon Pokémon. Beside her Lil' Ribbon is trying to hide the pain she's in with her body trying to force evolve her.

"Give up Kid," the leader says warningly. "I'd hate to hurt such a fine specimen as that eevee of yours any more than I've already have."

Gary looks at the Pokémon the thieves have out and silently agrees with them. All Pokémon are fully evolved and seem to be well trained. If the others don't get here soon, then they really don't have much of a choice.

[The Pokémon are a couple of each, aka the same party for each thief; Alakazam, Dragonite, Venomoth, Golem, Ganger and a dog Pokémon he doesn't recognize but is certain it's at least a fire type. There are four thieves total.]

"NO!" Mikey yells at them as the female eevee cries out loudly, as if calling for something. "No, I won't let you have her!"

"Very well," the leader says. Gary grabs Lil' Ribbon in one arm and Mikey who is now holding the female eevee, in the other. He pulls them closer, trying to protect them from whatever the thieves have in mind. "Dragonite, finish them off."

To their horror all four dragonite, not just the leader's, went to attack with what looks to be a powerful dragon type move. Then a cry is sounded, similar to an eevee's but different and something moved in front of them just as the dragons launched their attacks.

Everyone expected a hit, a cry of pain and destruction to the ground around them. What ended up happening is the attacks bouncing off harmlessly and fading before any damage can be done.

Let's just say, no one knew what just happened or how it was possible.

Standing in front of the children is a pink and cream Pokémon with ribbons and familiar ears. The eevee seems glad to see it. Gary pulls out Dee for a scan and, hopefully, an explanation.

 **"Pokémon Species; Unknown. Typing; Unknown. Gender; Female,"** Dee beeps. **"DNA Structure Indicates This Pokémon Is A Part Of The Eeveelution Family. There Is No Farther Information Regarding This Pokémon. Farther Studies And An Upgrade Is Advised."**

"What? That thing was once an eevee?" Gary asks, unknowingly echoing everyone's thoughts. "How was it not affected by the dragon attack?"

"That Pokémon would make us a fortune!" one of the thieves says loud enough for everyone to hear. "Boss, we have got to get it!"

"I agree," The boss says. "Grab That Pokémon!"

The unknown Pokémon doesn't seem fazed by this and waited, even though all twenty-four Pokémon came at it. At the last moment she turns around and grabs the boys and the Pokémon with her ribbons before jumping out of harm's way.

It calls out not unlike the eevee has done earlier. Before the thieves' Pokémon catches them, a series of attacks blast them back. Then a pink, a black, a green and a light blue Pokémon came out of nowhere and jumps on the thieves' Pokémon, knocking them back.

Silently, Gary gets Dee to scan them.

Behind the thieves' trucks, a smokescreen erupts though no one seems to notice.

 **"Pokémon Species; Unknown, Unknown, Unknown And Unknown. Typing; Ice, Grass, Psychic And Unknown Though Similar To The Dog Pokémon Second Type. Gender; Female, Female, Female And Female,"** Dee beeps, trying to keep it simple. **"DNA Structure Indicates These Pokémon Are A Part Of The Eeveelution Family. There Is No Farther Information Regarding These Pokémon. Farther Studies And An Upgrade Is Advised."**

"That doesn't sound right," Gary mumbles. "They should have been male; male is the most dominate gender."

 **"Which might mean there're more?"** Lil' Ribbon suggested with a shrug of her shoulders.

The four newcomers soon join the small group and hunch down low and growl at the thieves. Gary suddenly realizes these Pokémon are wild and aggressive. Of course, traveling with wild Pokémon gave him a unique perspective; most wild Pokémon are only aggressive if threaten or if their family is in danger… or someone is intruding in their territory.

 ** _'Well, this is something,'_** the pink eeveelution says through thought. **_'Don't worry young ones; we won't harm a friend of our little sister.'_**

"So only we can hear you speak?" Mikey asks, a little frighten.

 ** _'Well, unless one of those alakazam had training in such an art, they can't,'_** the Pokémon says with a thought. While it calmed Mikey down, Gary is a bit more skeptical but knew better than to say anything. Mikey's scared enough as it is and it is his fault.

He also recently notices all of them have the same leaf-bag attached to their necks. He suspects this is where they have their gifts, but knew it isn't the time to confirm it. It does make for a decent distraction on how doomed they are.

"Well, well, well," the boss says, looking at the newcomers with this hunger in his eyes. He doesn't seem to care how threatening the Pokémon are trying to be, or the disadvantages his Pokémon are at type wise. "This'll be the best haul of Pokémon we've ever had."

The thieves' Pokémon starts coming in closer, causing the eeveelutions to get closer to the others, trying to protect them from the threats. Gary pulls Mikey in closer as Lil' Ribbon and the eevee went to join the fight.

Suddenly a flash of light and a bit of smokescreen fills the area between the two opposing Pokémon groups. The Pokémon all backed up in anticipation as to what will come from it, effectively distracting both groups for the moment.

 ** _"Humans And Pokémon Alike! Listen To Me!"_** a voice calls out from everywhere at once and nowhere at all. **_"There Has Been A Great Injustice And there Are Cheaters Among Us! If You Value Honor, Then Stop This Nonsense And Fight Fair!"_**

The smoke begins to settle down and both Gary and Lil' Ribbon can't help but face-palm/paw at the scene.

 ** _"I Am The Great Wizard, Sparkle Dust,"_** Amber Silk says[?] dressed in a wizard's robe and hat, twirling a double helix staff with a pink gem in it, most likely at the top. It's a bit hard to tell with all that twirling _._ _ **"And You, Shall, Not, Pass!"**_

"That's An Overused Line, And You Know It!" Gary yells at the "Wizard" pikachu. Said Pokémon just shrugs at him before adjusting her hat.

"What Is Going On Here?!" one of the thieves asks in disbelief. "What Is That Thing?!"

 ** _"I already told you; I'm the Great Wizard, Sparkle Dust,"_** Amber Silk says[?] with annoyance. She twirls her staff to point at them threateningly. **_"And you are one of the most despicable and cowardly humans I have ever had to deal with; attacking children and two young Pokémon with twenty-four fully evolved Pokémon!"_**

"We're thieves; we don't play fair," the boss thief says annoyed with all of this. "And you are in the way of our hard-earned cash!"

 ** _"Well then,"_** Amber Silk says[?] with a smirk, **_"I hope you don't mind the hard work to get all of us Pokémon."_**

She raises her staff in the air as it glows pink. Before anyone had time to react, the Pokémon in the cages teleport out and onto the battle field. As Gary and Mikey rejoice with the Pokémon they are familiar with, aka have the Pokémon check them over for injuries, the other Pokémon gathered around and ready to attack the thieves and their Pokémon.

* * *

Time Skip; because I can't to battle scenes.

* * *

With the thieves and their Pokémon safely in the cages that once held the stolen Pokémon, the eeveelutions gather around and places evolutionary stones on the ground. Now Gary can identify the everstone, moonstone, the leafstone, the firestone, the waterstone and the thunderstone, but not the others.

 ** _'Those are the sunstone, usually found in Johto rather than Kanto, the shinystone, discovered in Sinnoh, and the icestone, which was discovered in Alola,'_** Mirage explains, still disguise as the gem in the staff and not sounding like a pikachu. **_'And the eeveelutions are Umbreon; a dark type which commonly evolves at night, Espeon; a psychic type which commonly evolves during the day, Leafeon; a grass type which commonly evolves in certain forests, Glaceon; an ice type which commonly evolves on certain frozen areas, and Sylveon, a fairy type which commonly evolves with a fairy type move. And yes; males don't have any gender differences.'_**

"Okay, and what are dark and fairy types?" Gary asks while rocking Lil' Ribbon, trying to comfort her from the pain she's in. "Or am I going to have to wait?"

 ** _'Pardon me, child,'_** the espeon says coming up to Gary with Mikey's eevee and his friend. **_'My sister and her friend wanted to give the hatchling a gift.'_**

The silver-grey eevee comes up with the everstone that was in her bag and place it at Gary's feet. Lil' Ribbon shakily tries to get out of Gary's arms. Gary kneels down so Lil' Ribbon can get to the ground safely. As the three Pokémon were talking, Gary faced the espeon.

"What is it they're talking about?" he asks, mildly concern.

 ** _'My sister has heard how Lil' Ribbon gave up her everstone for Eevee, even though she needs it as she has no desire to evolve,'_** the espeon explains calmly. By now the two eevees are assuring Lil' Ribbon that the everstone they're offering is now hers. **_'My sister's gift for Eevee is an everstone, as ours are choices for our evolutionary line. However, since we were running late… well…_**

 ** _'The point I'm trying to say here is this; Lil' Ribbon has proven to be a valued friend, putting others needs before her own,'_** the espeon continues, watching the three Pokémon. **_'My sister and her friend have agreed to offer the stone she was going to give him, as thanks for all she has done.'_**

Lil' Ribbon, with tears in her eyes and holding the everstone, hugs the two eevees tightly. Gary can only assume she's saying "thankyou" to them, but he can't be sure.

"She's not going to let this rock go," Gary mentions more to himself than anything. Then he looks at the espeon and says, "Thank you."

 ** _'Thank you for looking after our sister, her friend and his family,'_** she 'says' sincerely with a bow of her head. She then pulls out the sunstone from her bag and adds; **_'Perhaps you would have better use for these stones than we do.'_**

* * *

Time Skip; same reason as the first two.

* * *

Lil' Ribbon smiles as she looks at her new everstone. The pain she felt is no longer there and she has this warm feeling in her chest whenever she thinks of what happened. A content sigh leaves her lips as she continues admiring her new everstone.

"Hope you don't trip while you're looking at your rock," she hears Gary say, bringing her back to reality. "And you better hurry or we'll leave you behind."

 **"Hey!"** she called out with a slight growl as she looks up. Just as before, she has fallen behind from the group, though not by much.

Ash is riding Tru with Misty sitting behind him, most likely so he wouldn't fall. Big Ash is walking on one side while Lucario is on the other. Brock is looking at his guide book and Mama Khan has all of the younglings either in her pouch or on her shoulders.

The other Pokémon are a bit scattered but still close enough. Gary is in the back, walking backwards and looking at her. She sticks out her tongue at him before absorbing her stone and running to catch up. She had again gone under him, causing him to yell at her, which she ignores.

She makes it to Tru and went to call for Misty but stop. She thinks just how important it is to have Misty sitting behind Ash, if it's safe to be in her arms and if it's worth it.

The quick answer is; no, it's not.

Lil' Ribbon ran through her pack. She didn't even need to think about who she can go to. She ran through the pack again and leap into the air, not giving them a chance to see her coming.

"Ack! Lil' Ribbon," Gary all but growls at her as she lands on him, almost knocks him to the ground. They gave each other a firm look, before a yawn escapes her mouth and interrupt it.

She rubs her head against Gary's chin and snuggles on his chest. Once secured, she closes her eyes and let the sounds around her lure her to sleep.

Gary tries so hard not to smile. He tries so hard to dislike her and her actions. He tries so hard to not fall for her cute charm and give her what she wants.

But seeing her sleep peacefully after the day they had, it brings a sort of peace. He looks around to make sure no one sees this before making sure Lil' Ribbon isn't going to fall out of his arms anytime soon. He knows he can just hand her off to someone else…

He chooses to savor the moment, knowing he probably won't have a chance like this anytime soon, not with her.

* * *

 **AN; Okay, I didn't want to do Mikey's brothers. Mainly because I thought I could change the spelling for Sparky, but couldn't think of what. Then time became scarce and this is the result... sorry.**

 **In case you couldn't tell, Gary and Lil' Ribbon had a bit of trouble getting along. I'll try to make the chapters that come before this showcase it better.**


	8. Of Aura and Time

_**Disclaimer; I Do NOT Own Pokemon!**_

 **AN: Hi everyone, sorry for not updating sooner. July is a tough month for me. So is Christmas, now that I think about it.**

 **But I got another chapter done! Though the title needs work...**

 **This one is different. It's the easiest format I can write, though it's also the easiest to talk around in circles. I'm open to a beta reader if anyone is interested.**

 **I do need some help. You see, this wasn't the chapter I had planned on putting up. But I'm having trouble with the one I'm working on. Can anyone translate these next paragraphs into old English or something? I am open to rewording it if I have to.**

* * *

 **Welcome one and all to the final battle of the day! This is the match that'll decide who is the Master of Disguise. And we, King [name] and Queen [name], invite you all to watch what is suspected to be a heated match!**

 **Please welcome Sir Ash, his Maiden Misty and their Pokemon partner, Wizard Sparkle Dust!**

 **And please welcome Lady [name] and her partner [Pokemon]!**

* * *

 **Thank you all in advance for your support. While this story isn't getting the attention I'd like, I'm still grateful to everyone who has put this story into their follows and/or favorites. And thank you for your reviews. They really keep me motivated.**

 **If you guess the Pokemon correctly in any of the chapters, you can have a say on what Pokemon and/or human they meet or what episode you'd like me to write. Someone has already guessed Amber Silk and Lil' Ribbon correctly. The others are still up for grabs, so to speak.**

 **Now that that's out of the way; please enjoy.**

* * *

 _The first time Lucario noticed time passed since being trapped in the staff was when a young mew accidentally connected to his mind. The mew was pretty vague as to what happened in the war, how it ended, but it had spoken of the peace that came, that is now and has been since shortly after his imprisonment._

 _A blink later and a few years have passed. The mew wanted someone to talk to, vent out its frustrations to._

 _Apparently Transform is hard to master._

 _He couldn't offer much help. Being trapped in the staff with no sense of the passage of time and being surrounded by some form of blue mist doesn't give him much to do, other than think of the betrayal and if he'll ever get out._

 _He told her stories of his life to her, as it had mentioned identifying itself as female once before, instead. He spoke of his life training under the crown, the techniques he had to learn and the people they've helped. He eventually told her his perspective of the events of the war, and of his master's betrayal._

 _She wisely stayed quiet and let him talk. It felt good sharing the pain, even if she couldn't understand it._

 _She mentioned once about the festival the kingdom is hosting in honor of his former master. He got mad. He yelled at her, wondering why anyone would celebrate that traitor after everything he has done to him. He wouldn't listen when she tried telling the story everyone knew and how they didn't know his story; he told her to leave him alone._

 _She didn't leave, though she didn't speak either. He waited. Time passed slowly yet still he waited for her to leave… she didn't._

 _After what felt like days, something that he isn't used to anymore, he went to tell her very forcefully to leave him alone. Before he could he felt her mind sift from being quiet to being alert and on guard. Wanting to know what is happening, he opened up his aura, which is harder than it should have been._

 _Mew's aura is the first he could see. It was like a crystallized fire burning strongly, contained in a solid form of a young, though slightly malnourished, body; one that is about 100 years old, perhaps younger and somehow familiar._

 _Focusing his aura even more, he struggles to see what it is that caused his friend to be on guard. All he could see are faint signatures of human aura, and not as far as he'd like; up to twenty feet if that. He can't tell if there might be more father away from his prison, or how many there are._

 _The closest aura, a child, seems to be trying to communicating with his friend, with mix results. The child's parent, he assumes, tries pulling the child away while trying to get to his friend. He could feel his friend getting very protective and defensive before the humans attacking were blown away._

 _He could feel the child talking to his friend. The annoyance his friend feels fills his mind before it settled to a compromise agreement._

 _He learns afterwards that the child convinced the other humans to leave them alone once they were done communicating. Apparently the child believes the staff is alive and is hurt it was left abandoned, and the mew is trying to comfort it._

 _It's the closest to the truth the mew can portray._

 _He wonders why the mew hasn't just left when he wanted her to. It turns out she was about to, give him time alone to think and to calm down… until she remembered something important; How could he calm down when time for him only moves when they're connected?_

 _He didn't know what to think, what to say, with that. So he stayed quiet. She stayed quiet to, knowing he needs this time for himself._

 _The child came back a few hours later with food. He could feel his friend hesitating before wrapping her tail around his prison and carrying it with her. Even with all the time that has passed, he does not feel hungry… and that startles him._

 _His strength grows weak and sleep starts to seep in. Yet he notices a dark creature stalking them and made a mental note where he senses it. Everything fades as he is pulled unconscious, much like when he was drawn into this prison._

 _He awakes with his friend calling to him. Too tired to try his aura, he asks her what happened and if they are alright. She tells him of thieves trying to take the staff and kidnapped the royal child, something the child got out of them. Thanks to his warning, she was able to knock them back and teleport them to safety._

 _It felt nice to not be alone, though he is wondering where this "safety" is. The mew opens their mental connection in a way she thinks the eon twins does it; she's sharing her sight with him._

 _It's not perfect, but it's more than what he has now._

 _He could see crystalline structures and plant-life, and color. Wild Pokémon come out to play and the child, who looks somewhat familiar, comes running up with wild berries. Mew went to focus on them and the connection is lost… at least the sight._

 _Still, it was wonderful while it lasted and they both agreed to try it again sometime._

 _The child explains the festival in ways Lucario could accept; it's to honor the aura guardians who fought in battle, who serve and protect the innocent and whose lives have been lost. His master is just the one they all think of and they do believe he saved them._

 _Mew teleports them back to… wherever the staff is being held just in time for the festival to start. Mew kept their connection open just so he knows what is happening._

 _The festival is as he suspects; a fancy celebration with banners, food and activities. Mew is relaying everything she sees and smells through their connection. He finds he enjoys her descriptions of the activity and things she's able to do._

 _When it became time for the battles, Mew perch herself back onto the staff and opened her eyes for him. He wanted to watch since he learned of that the winner is going to hold his prison at the end of the festival, or something like that. He wanted to see the person earning the honor and to see if, perhaps, they could release him._

 _While some of the battles were intense, none of them held the amount of natural aura he needs to get out._

 _After the festival was over, his friend explains how she got a medal and title as "Staff's Protector" and is allowed to visit whenever she'd like. He feels a pain of jealousy at the fact she can leave whenever she wants while he cannot, yet he doesn't blame her for that. If anyone is to blame, it's his former master._

 _He stores the auras of those that held the honor at the festival. His plan was to create booby traps so no one could steal the staff and either sell it or use it._

 _Yet, as time went by and more festivals came and went, his anger for his master fades away though never really left. He's grateful to see the kingdom grow and to watch how his friend grows into her power. He finally realizes her importance as a Mew for the Tree of Beginning._

 _The child his friend befriended grew old and died. Mew was very saddened by the thought of her friend no longer being there to talk to, even though she has their children and grandchildren. This is the first time he realized the fact that he does not age._

 _He finds himself grateful for his master's betrayal for if he wasn't trapped in the staff, then he would have perished in old age if not in combat and Mew would have been hurt._

 _Now the betrayal still hurts, and it's hard for him to remember the good times he had with his master, but he no longer resents being trapped. He still wishes he could smell the air, taste the food and drink the water, and eventually the sodas Mew sometimes has. He still wants to feel the grass beneath his paws and to help others again._

 _Yet every time he thinks of freedom, he thinks of time catching up to him eventually and death coming to finally claim him. He thinks of Mew and how heartbroken she'll be if that were to happen. He can't hurt her, yet he still yearns for freedom._

 _Now Mew herself isn't immortal, and he isn't sure what he'll do if he were to realize she's no longer there… if he even realizes it. Just the thought bothers him. If it bothers his friend, she never let him know._

 _There was a time when she landed on the staff and cried. Her mind is in emotional pain, similar to the loss of her friend, yet since she didn't mean to wake him he never made his presence known. She never spoke about it, but he can tell she is deeply troubled by something._

 _One year both he and his friend made a shocking discovery; the aura guardians are become scarce. At first he thought, and hoped, it was because they were stationed elsewhere. But as Mew is able to travel around, she found that most perished before passing their teaching onto their children, or even have children in the first place._

 _Now she is hopeful that a line just went dormant. Lucario doesn't know where she learned that since he didn't even know if it were possible. It makes sense for the ability to go dormant if there is no need for it, yet he isn't sure._

 _At least not until a line did come back close to a thousand years since the war ended. Mew informs him of two kids, brothers, and yet only one of them has the ability to use aura. Eventually she locates the Lucario Kingdom and asks them to look for those with the gift and train them. She didn't want the gift to be forgotten, or the children be shun out once it reawakens._

 _She wisely didn't tell Lucario the child's aura's wavelength and who he might have been descended from._

 _He did find out when the boy came to the festival with a riolu. While not exactly alike, the boy's aura did resemble his former master's. It was enough for him to try to get out of this prison, but the boy was never close enough for him to do that._

 _Many more years passed after that. He learns that the boy has taken up aura training, thanks to his friend. She seems really excited about this, and how can he blame her? Aura Guardians is basically just a legend now, and here's a chance to revive it._

 _For some reason, he thinks of his master and wonders. He wonders if the Aura Guardians were destined to fade away, even if his master hadn't betrayed them. He wonders if Mew would have even known about them, and would have been looking for them once they were gone._

 _He pushes these thoughts aside since he doesn't have, and cannot get, the answers to them. Instead he focuses on his friend and the festival coming up. She's super excited to watch the battles and see who this year's champion might be._

 _Even though the subject of the festival still hurts after all this time, Lucario admits that he can't wait to see either._

* * *

 **AN; Please let me know if I spelled the names of the Pokemon wrong. I don't have a pokedex with me. And if you have any question, let me know and I'll do my best to answer.**


	9. The Rota Battle before the battle P1

**Disclaimer; I do not own pokemon. I am just a fan.**

 **AN: Sorry for the delay. Life got in the way and a lack of inspiration and motivation has got my creativity down to a halt, at least with fanfiction. I am attempting to write my original stories, but I am afraid that I am not ready for such a daunting task...**

 **How do you write a novel series when all you know is the main plot and not any of the subplots? And it has three separate storylines that eventually merge at or near the end? All methods I saw only deal with one storyline for the whole series or one novel.**

 **Well, anyway... I'm still playing this game that until someone says what possible pokemon species a character I have already establish is, I won't be writing them as their species. Look, just guess these two for now; Silk Ryder and Skye Grace. Here's a hint; Silk Ryder makes silky threads while Skye Grace flies in the sky and both are Kanto native. Tell me what they are, and I'll work on the battle or an episode of your choice. If you don't want an episode, then how about a pokemon for the team? You just have to guess their species before I can take your request.**

 **The battle is something I've been wanting to try, but I don't know how to write it out yet... sorry.**

 **Anyway, I hope you'll enjoy the story. Just don't expect an update anytime soon; have to deal with life before it gets out of hand.**

* * *

The sense of awareness slowly fades into existence as though the conscious has been asleep and is now waking up. Lucario knows better; his friend is nearby and trying to connect to him.

Suddenly, as his mind is still "waking up", he misses the feel of his limbs stretching after a restful sleep, the feel of the air around him, the feel of the ground beneath his paws, the taste of food in his mouth and water down his throat…

He finds he doesn't remember pain. The pain of hunger, of thirst… the pains of the battles and training… the pain of a pulled muscle or staying in one spot for too long…

Yeah, he misses being alive every now and then, which awakens his bitterness for being trapped and betrayed. The "waking up" after "sleeping" always give him a bit of distortion. His thoughts always seem to assault him when he least expects it.

 ** _'Good morning,'_** his friend says almost cheerfully. In his prison, she's the light that shines through. **_'Are you excited about today? Be honest.'_**

 ** _'I'm excited to spend time with you,'_** he answers. In truth, even though time only goes by with her around, every moment spent with her is precious. There is something he would like to know; **_'Do you know if the aura guardian from a few years past is here?'_**

 ** _'Well, his nephew is here,'_** she says a bit hesitantly. Even though he can't see his friend, Lucario has the feeling she's fidgeting.

 ** _'I didn't realize he had more than one,'_** he says carefully. He knows of the nephew but, according to what she said, the boy is too damaged to function without natural aura ability and a familiar to cycle it through. Therefore it makes sense if there is more than one… **_'Unless you mean...'_**

 ** _'Yeah, he only has the one… unless the new Kanto Trio counts, but I think those are his cousins,'_** she mutters.

 ** _'Does the child have a natural epiphany with aura? Does he have an aura familiar?'_** he asks in quick sessions. To have two natural aura users, in one family nonetheless, in a time where aura guardians are all but extinct is overwhelming, and frightening hopeful.

He could feel her nervousness. It's not like anything is bad, just… troubling. Almost like there's something she knows but isn't sure if she should tell him or something like that. Just as he was about to ask what's wrong, she spoke up.

 ** _'Well, there's a pikachu with the same frequency… and two other none-riolu Pokémon, but the pikachu is closer.'_** He could almost feel her shrinking into herself, even though he has never really seen her before.

 ** _'There's more,'_** he states, causing her to mentally flinch. If he could he would take a deep breath to think of the problem and how to deal with it. Since he couldn't, he just had to take a moment to think things through. **_'If it makes you uncomfortable, you don't have to tell me.'_**

 ** _'I just don't want to bring up bad memories,'_** she says quietly, confusing him.

 ** _'I'm sure it'll be alright,'_** Lucario says, though he isn't too sure. His friend wouldn't keep things from him unless it involves… **_'Oh…'_**

His past… his "master"… the reason he's in this prison with no way out.

 ** _'We don't have to watch the matches if you're not up to it,'_** she suggests calmly. For a moment Lucario really considers not watching. Yet just as the thought came through did he feel guilty for even considering it; it's the one time he and his friend can enjoy themselves instead of just talking.

 ** _'It's a "costume" tournament?'_** he asks. He could feel her mental agreement and a part of him wishes to groan. Chances are the "costumes" would be the past, a tradition started to "remember" the sacrifices and loss of the war. All it reminds him is the betrayal of someone he once considered a friend.

Yet, if it hadn't happened then he wouldn't be here with his friend. And if he were ever able to leave this prison… would she outlive him? If he doesn't, would he outlive her? Would he ever know?

Either way, the anger he had towards the betrayal has died down, but the scars still hurt and the bitterness remains, even after all this time. He doesn't think he'll ever be able to recover fully, not from this.

But should that be the reason he stops watching this tournament? As stated earlier it's the only form of entertainment the two can share and enjoy.

 ** _'We'll watch it,'_** he says calmly. **_'Is the boy going to be in it?'_**

 ** _'I doubt it,'_** she says, though in thought. **_'I mean, he does have three Pokémon who seems to work well for him. But he's disabled; I don't think they'll let him join.'_**

 ** _'Would he be at the party then?'_** he asks. A part of him would like to see the boy and the Pokémon, for reasons unclear.

 ** _'He'll be there, even if I have to force him,'_** she says firmly, causing no doubt she'll follow through it. He hopes she wouldn't have to. **_'Just… keep an open mind? Times have changed and he's not…'_**

Okay, that's curious. Why would she be nervous and acting this sort of way? All it is is another natural aura-adapt; proof that the art can be reborn, although the reason for their return does leave him feeling uneasy.

He doesn't make the promise. It is time for the tournament to start and he's interested in who might be lucky enough to hold his prison. If he doesn't like or trust the contestant, at least his friend would make sure nothing would happen. He knows he can trust her.

He just hopes she wouldn't betray him like the last person he trusted did.

* * *

 **AN; So there's the story, sorry it's so short. I sure hope I got Lucario's trust issues across. He does trust his friend, it's, well, I did explain it in the last sentence. I do wonder how he's going to react when he see's Ash's aura. There is a reason why, but I won't explain it just yet... especially since I might change it later on.**


	10. Safari Zone Static Mist Part1

**Disclaimer; I don't own Pokemon.**

 **AN: I had wanted this chapter to be a full episode, but I'm stuck. I know how the ending happens, but I don't know the middle part. I like this bit a lot, which is why I'm posting it now.**

 **Would it be better if I stop playing my guessing game? I had really wanted to interact with you guys, but I guess it isn't working. No one is playing...**

 **Please leave a review. I can't get better if no one says anything.**

* * *

Ash and company are visiting the Safari Zone. Gary wants to record the Pokémon there on their health and how many are there. The others just want to tag along and see what Pokémon lives there.

Ash wanted to know if they could have another friend or two. Not that he told them.

The Warden is a bit… overly protected of the place. He only let them through once he learned of their purpose and had them promise to only use their special pokéballs to catch any Pokémon they wish to keep and no Pokémon battles.

Of course, that was after Lucario and Mirage disarmed him and demanded he listens.

Right now, Amber Silk has called all the Pokémon over for a refresher of what they are allowed to do. Ash knew he should stay with the group, but he moved farther and farther away, looking for a Pokémon to watch. Or maybe it was to find a good place to sit and watch? Either or.

She'll catch up, she always does.

He finds a good place by the grass and sits down. He hadn't realized he walked pretty far from the others already, nor could he care to; there were a lot of Pokémon running around, and he finds it interesting to watch.

One particular herd catches his attention; it has thirty members and the alpha looks pretty strong, almost the strongest one there. Neither members of the herd are looking for trouble and they seem pretty mellow considering other herds are trying to fight them, push them out of their territory.

 _"Ash!"_ Amber Silk's voice calls up, startling some of the Pokémon. Luckily none stampede over towards Ash or else he would have been in serious trouble. Soon she's one his shoulder, scolding him.

But his attention isn't on her; it's on that one herd. They stood their ground, even though they look ready to bolt. Each member is looking around, trying to find the threat. Then, for just a moment, the alpha's eyes trained on them. That moment felt like forever to Ash, but it broke when the alpha bellowed and the herd went back to grazing.

 _"And you aren't even listening, are you?"_ she asks, breaking the spell. Blinking, Ash slowly turns his head to her with a blank expression. Amber Silk gives a sigh before looking up; _"So what are you looking at?"_

Her eyes met the alpha before breaking contact. She surveys the safari, taking a mental note on all of the Pokémon there.

 _"There's too many Pokémon,"_ she comments after a minute.

Ash picks up Dexter and starts recording, though in hindsight he should have at the start. He records the many herds and the space they have to deal with. After a minute he sends the footage to Gary since this is his project.

 _"So, what is it that you have planned, exactly?"_ she asks knowingly.

Gary sent a text back, interrupting Ash's answer. He's going to try to catch a few Pokémon here and have his grandpa, Professor Oak, take a look at them and see if they're healthy. If it's too crowded, like the video shows, then they'll have to talk to the warden about opening it back up to all trainers or something instead of the few he's allowing. Or have a better look at the rules.

Ash opens the pack with the safari balls and looks at the plains again. Amber Silk let out a sigh as she drops from his shoulder.

 _"I'll go catch the Pokémon; see who'd want to come and be friends. You stay here and rest,"_ she says as she takes the pack from him. _"That way you'll be safe if a herd decides to start a stampede or something."_

Ash made a sound of protest, but couldn't argue with her logic. He may be getting better, but he's still not well enough to handle something like this.

Come to think of it; are they even qualified to catch wild Pokémon?

Suddenly a pack of nidorino starts stampeding near where Ash is resting. He manages to get up from the ground before they got close, but he wasn't going to be able to outrun them or get out of the way in time.

Amber Silk wasn't even that far yet, but the small quakes the stampede is giving out prevents her from running back to him, or get into a position to stop them. It doesn't help that some of the other Pokémon are also stampeding in various directions before colliding and starting a fight.

Ash couldn't get out. He knows as soon as he stood that there isn't a way for him to escape this unharmed. At least, not without some help, but it's just him and Amber Silk…

"Raichu!" a cry is heard. Ash barely had time to register that it isn't Taylor's voice he heard before he was suddenly no longer on the ground.

He is dropped before he could even comprehend what happened and who saved him. He's in a clearing now, a good distance from the fight and Amber Silk is running towards him. However, he turns his head to, at least, sees who it was that saved him and thank them if he could.

His mind froze up suddenly.

There, before him and running off is a raichu of a different color and silver tail. Yet, before it disappeared completely, it looked back with frightened eyes so familiar it makes his heart clench. She disappears before he could react and Amber Silk manages to jump into his chest.

He couldn't hear her talking to him, asking if he's alright. He can't feel the herd he spied coming up. He didn't even notice when he got to his feet, even stumbling a bit was lost on him.

All he could see, all he could register is one of the pikachu that attacked him… just saved his life.

* * *

The raichu runs off in a sort of blind run; not knowing or caring where she's going.

All she had really known is that the human was in danger and she had no desire to see him trampled… not after the damage she and her brother cause that one child years ago.

She hadn't expected them to be the same human.

His movements are so… wrong! His limbs aren't moving freely like all the other humans do... like he did that day. It's so tense and… dead…

Had she caused that? Had she… Did they cause that much damage? They hadn't known humans were so fragile; only that they were scared and in a new place, taken from their home and it was so loud and… and…

She slows down at the lake of their guardian. She stops trying to run away, and just sits down… staring at her reflection in sadness.

He was trying to protect them, she remembers that. He was acting as a barrier between all those other humans and he seems so nice.

But there were so many strange smells and loud noises… and… and… they were so scared. And those humans seemed like they wanted to hurt them!

But it's no excuse for hurting the one human who was trying to protect them. Yes, it gave them enough time to escape but what good did that bring? More humans came to try to kill them! She lost so much after that.

Her brother hadn't cared. Or maybe he did but was too prideful to admit it. She had to leave him because he wasn't the same; he wanted to hurt the humans who hurt them.

But what good can come out of it? It'll just make the humans angrier and hunt them down more! But he couldn't see that; he just wanted revenge.

And she doesn't blame him; a part of her even agrees.

But she doesn't want it. She keeps seeing the boy, haunted by what she'd done. She keeps seeing him dead, blank eyes staring at her in horror and in pain.

If she could; she'll never see another human like that again… she'll never be the reason they're like that, haunting her.

But the boy survived. She hadn't really thought he could… have not thought it was possible.

If she were him, she would have hated, if not feared the one who attacked her like that and left her for dead.

It's probably best to avoid him.

* * *

 **AN; What do you think? Be honest. Did I do the emotions well enough? Is it too confusing? What other episodes should I do? What possible nickname do you think I should give this raichu? I'm open to ideas.**

 **The raichu is shiny, but the coloration is from Gen 2; Gold, Silver, and Crystal.**


End file.
